Creek Camp Memories by David J Delaney captures the relief of leaving work and city pressures behind for a quiet camp beside a bush creek.
With steaks on the hotplate, ghost gums in the campfire light and wildlife stirring nearby, David settles into the sights and sounds of a night beneath the stars.
Creek Camp Memories
By David J Delaney
When the hustle ‘n’ pace bogs you down,
through all this haze it appears so brown,
your life spark is all but diminished
exhausted now your work has finished.
replace that fire and restless feeling,
grab some beer and bottles of Riesling,
head to the bush; find a creek bank high,
pitch your tent ‘neath clearing night sky.
Stacked wood now crackling ‘n’ burning,
on the hotplate, my steaks are turning,
resting, I start to really unwind
forgetting pressures; forgetting time.
Legs outstretched now slumped in this chair
breathing emission free, fresh clean air,
watched by a possum wide eyes bright,
illuminated by campfire light.
Serenaded by crickets singing
with millions of stars shimmering,
fires glowing shadows dance on ghost gums
while from a burrow a bilby runs.
an owl lifts its head to take a peek,
kooka’s with young tucked sound asleep.
I’m mesmerized by the campfire glow,
hypnotized by the creeks gentle flow.
Would love to stay the rest of my life
instead of clanging and city strife,
all those cars and the thick choking smog,
prancing pink ladies with matching dog,
there’s office robots and their glazed stare,
sealed lips, not a smile, they don’t care
how do they live, how do they survive
in this daily routine nine to five.
As curlews retrieve me from my dream,
I spy two geckos on a fence beam,
bright lucent moon highlights a clouds edge,
diamond firetails in mistletoe hedge.
feeling tired can’t stop my yawning,
new scenes will greet me with the morning.
snuggled in my swag and fast asleep,
now camped beside this beautiful creek.
David J Delaney ©
Keeping The Verse Alive
Creek Camp Memories is shared with permission from David J Delaney through Keeping The Verse Alive, Country Campfire’s bush poetry preservation project.
By preserving poems like this, we’re helping ensure the stories, humour and characters of country Australia continue to be enjoyed for generations to come.
David J Delaney
Bush Poet • Writer • Storyteller
David J Delaney is an Australian bush poet and writer whose poems draw on a lifetime of work, travel, family, road memories, outback places and the people he has known along the way. His poems are preserved through Country Campfire as part of the Keeping The Verse Alive project.
Poems, recitals, photographs, stories and original works remain the property of their original creator and are shared by Country Campfire with permission.
