Brissenden, R. F.

Australian Archaeology

Flinders Academic Commons

Australian Archaeology    Archived at Flinders University: dspace.flinders.edu.au  Full Citation Details: Brissenden, R.F. 1978. By the Shore. 'Australian Archaeology', no.8, 17.  B Y  THE S H O R E  I walked today a l o n g  t h a t  g r a s s y  s h e l f  Above t h e  beach where once we made o u r  camp And l a y  t o g e t h e r  l i s t e n i n g  t o  t h e  sea .  The s h e l f  i s  now a narrowing ledge:  t h e  wind, The r a i n ,  t h e  s u r f  and man w i t h  h i s  vagran t  wheels  Have broken down t h e  bank t h a t  looked so  f i rm.  Our t e n t - f l o o r  now would hang four  f e e t  i n  t h e  a i r  Above, t h e  sand ,  and where o u r  camp-fire burned There  f a l l s  atumbled s c r e e  of s h e l l  and bone: The k i t c h e n  l i t t e r  o f  a thousand years-- Bleached aba lone ,  tu rban-she l l  and t r i t o n  Slowly commingling wi th  grey e a r t h  and sand.  The weekend r u b b i s h  of our  d i r t y  t r i b e  L i e s  on t h e  g r a s s  - cans,  p l a s t i c ,  s h a t t e r e d  g l a s s :  A t  l e a s t  I bashed and burned and bur ied  ours .  But s t i l l  we l e f t  o u r  b lack  un love ly  spoor Beneath t h e  s o i l  - my mattock and my spade Loosened t h e  r o o t s ,  our  wheels helped gouge t h e  r u t s  That  w i t h  each  s t o r m  scour  deeper .  A l l  l i f e  marks The e a r t h  i t  moves on - b u t  t h e  mess we make Seems f i l t h i e r  t h a n  most: we've fou led  t h e  n e s t .  And though t h e  b l a c k  man's midden s t a n k ,  h i s  dung Bred f l i e s ,  h i s  f i r e - s t i c k  razed  t h e  bush - t h e  g r a s s  Where h i s  b a r e  f e e t  passed sp rang  back green and f r e s h .  (Repr in ted  w i t h  k i n d  permiss ion by t h e  e d i t o r  05 Quadrant) Archived at Flinders University: dspace.flinders.edu.au

By the Shore

http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2328/782/1978008017017_FINAL.pdf?sequence=1

By the Shore

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