Watiyawanu
Desert Mountain
In Central Australia, far, far West of Alice Springs, lie the lands of the Luritja and Pintupi peoples. We call it desert; they call it home.
The sandy road West arrows out into a dry plain as flat as a table top, but one last mountain remains - a dinosaur spine of wind carved quartzite with three names.
There is a name in Luritja, and a name in Pintupi. Those names have been there as long as the people, and they will tell you that they have been there forever.
Then there is the third name, tacked on by Europeans - just a moment ago, in desert time - and the only name you will find on our maps.
It is a place of ineffable beauty, wedged so deeply into my heart that I might die if it were ever removed.
Photo: Watiyawanu, seen from Irantji
Watiyawanu .....
Amundurrngu .....
Mt Liebig ......
The names fall away
into emptiness,
like the spinifex
lapping at the peak.
Dry creek beds
drain the slope,
already dry beyond
all hope of rain.
Only the winds remain,
blowing gently
into the quiet land,
stirring the desert sands which,
grain by patient grain
are weathered from the hills,
settling on the plain
in shafts of silent sunlight
gently, secretly,
beyond the echo
of the names -
Mt Liebig ....
Amundurrngu .....
Watiyawanu .......
Watiyawanu - looking back from the West.
From far far away……
Campsite at Irantji, below the mountain.
Ahhh... thank you Keith. There is a power in naming. The European names flake off like cheap paint, but underneath....
I thought you might like this one. Your own mountain photos have me reaching for my walking boots....
It's coming up to 1 am here now but I couldn't rest until I posted this. It's been on my mind all day.
Goodnight! Best wishes too.
Dave :)
I love this poem, David. I love those mountain names at the beginning - sounding as old as time itself - and the way you echo them at the end, like an echo among mountains. Well done, my friend!