Of the Natural World

The Mirror Pool

I came to you
To watch
To watch you drink
The small, the grand
The young, the old
The hunters and the hunted

From plain and wilderness
Mountain and savannah
From the far reaches, you’d come
To surround a single body
Calm and still
Clear
Translucent
A body of life
To refresh and to replenish

Humanity, it circled
An ever revolving scholl of two legged beasts
Revolving
Contemplative
Without threat
Without malice
In circumference of wonder

A single droplet rippled
A single point
Followed by circle
After circle
After circle
Concentric mirrors of the last
Singular reminders of the infinity of life
Birth to death
To death
To birth

And you, each and every being
Your heads were bowed
As if in understanding

I too, knelt to join your throng
From my two legged magesty to four
At once an animal seeking succour
At once, merely another creature
One small creature
In the cycle of the earth

 

© December 28th, 2013
Written: Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA)
Inspiration: Cai Guo-Quiang – Falling Back To Earth

Nawar and Athar Duet

 

The “Nawar and Athar” Duet.
Performed by Nadia Sunde and Kacey Patrick.
From “The Dream of Zedkat Nabu”.

Performed at Woodfordia, Woodford Folk Festival: 28th – 31st December, 2012.

“The Dream of Zedkat Nabu”. This was the World Premiere of a new work devised by Linsey Pollak and performed by 4 wonderful singers – Kacey Patrick, Velvet Pesu, Jeunae Rogers and Nadia Sunde and 4 musicians triggering the calls of endangered animals by striking bamboo poles – Jessica Ainsworth, Fatima, Linsey Pollak and Zaia. This a Musical work with strong visuals – lighting design by Andrew Meadows and costume design by Velvet Pesu. The core of the piece is the sounds of the animals themselves. Evocative calls of endangered species that speak directly to us in a way that words cannot. It is a call to action. A call to save this planet from the impending crisis. This is The Dream of Zedkat Nabu. — at Woodford Folk Festival 2012/13. – filmed by the WFF video archiving team & edited by Robert Sneddon.

Katoomba

6 currawongs
Perched on a bush
On a cliff
Suspended above the forest
The edge falling
To where the faint white spec of a cockatoo
Is illuminated against the moss green canopy

As the winds begin to gale
One currawong takes flight
Buoyed towards the clouds
He dips then soars with the breeze
Circumnavigates the cliffs
And dives towards another perch out of sight
His black and white complexion
Silhouetted against the mottled sandstone

The valley stretches below
– GODOOMBA –
And the hues change as the light begins to fade
Amongst the moss
The grey filaments of tree trunks
Reflect a purple aura into the undergrowth

A storm draws near
It sweeps across the valley
Pulling a veil over the landscape
As the once blue horizon
Is shrouded in a curtain of payne’s grey
A single lightening bolt illuminates a lone tower
A sentinel for a different time

As the rain descends
The sounds of Godoomba echo through the valley
The birds have taken voice
Mingling with the languages of humans
A symphony of song fills the vastness
The birds, the bells
The humans, the timpani and the fanfare

The storm has reached the cliff
And the once defined horizon
Has receded into the blanket of the clouds
The hues of blue and purple, moss and sand
Have become all shades of grey
As mother nature
And her blessed rain
Enfold the valley

© Kacey Patrick 2004

Katoomba – Written in-between gigs at ‘The Clarendon’.

The Sakura – For Taiji and Kayo

From this day a tree will grow
In a garden, where we’ll go
Each year to watch the blossoms bloom
And gather with our friends
And as this tree, it grows and spreads
It’s blossomed bowers overhead
We will look back on this day
To where it all began

We gather here with blessings
For the children of this garden
From this day, this tree and they
Will share this sacred ground
And we will watch with warmth and love
As these children grow
And evolve with all the magic, joys and sorrows
That abound

Taiji, Warrior of Peace
Child with great connection
To the natural world around you
We wish for evermore
That nature brings you nurture
That your journeys bring you all
The wonder and compassion
That life has in store

Kayo, Child of Fragrant World
Girls at life’s beginning
Whose light and conscious presence
Did radiate from the start 
We wish for you a life of love
Adventure and of learning
Of peace and magic, joy and dreams
And all that sets apart

From this day a tree will grow
In a garden, where we’ll go
Each year to watch the blossoms bloom
Remembering this day
And as this tree, it grows and spreads
It’s boughs and blossoms overhead
The children of this garden
Will sing and dance and play

© Kacey Patrick 2010

The Brolgas

Against the backdrop of an azure sky
A brolga pair orbits the baked earth
Like creatures from another time
Prehistoric in their form
Long and slender they rise
Vast wings in undulating motion

Such grace
As if buoyed by zephyrs

They circle to join others
Pairs in sublime union
To bless the skies
To bless the earth
To await dusk
When their call will resound through human hearts

© Kacey Patrick 2007
For the Yungaburra Folk Festival

Wollumbin / ‘Tyalgum Dawn’

In early morning light
In solitude it stands
A sentinel is proud
Above a subdued land

The catcher of the clouds
Swathed in morning mist
Unfurling from the landscape
Like spiders’ filament

Silhouettes of trees
Sit smudged against the scene
Their tendrils catch the creeping light
Then turn from grey to green

Breezes swirl, caressing
Vast undulating fields
Which ripple from the forest
That clothe this sentinel

As dawn’s first ray alights
Atop the mountain’s brow
Then refracts down through the forest
To hushed and sleepy towns

———

This is an undulating land
Formed in eons past
Its ancient rim, a remnant
Of molten rock and blast

And high above this valley
In forests thick and wise
Trees remain from ancient times
To stand and to remind

And there amongst the undergrowth
A chorus deep within
Resounds the call of early morn
Which echos down the stream

The first peoples, they know
The sacred in this place
The those who came thereafter
The heart within this space

If Wollumbin is the heart
The caldera is the arms
Embracing all who dwell here
In intoxicating charm

As Morning mists unfurl
And reveal a bounty grand
A sentinel stands proud
Above an ancient land

© Kacey Patrick 2011

Adapted and used as text for ‘Tyalgum Dawn : for soprano and string orchestra’, composed by Ann-Carr Boyd. Commissioned for the 20th Anniversary of the Tyalgum Festival of Classical Music, 2011. Performed by the Camerata of St John’s and Kacey Patrick (soprano).