The Million Star Motel by Marco Gliori celebrates the simple pleasure of rolling out a swag beneath the stars and finding contentment in the Australian bush.

With a bubbling billy, a glowing campfire and a chorus of night-time wildlife, Marco finds a room with a view that no fancy establishment could match. There is humour among the bush bedmates, and a quiet sense of renewal beneath that sparkling ceiling.

The Million Star Motel

By Marco Gliori

When the road is long and lonely, and the sunset’s far-off gaze
steers the weary workers home again, then I, like all the strays
look out on the far horizon for the traveller’s next motel,
some with carpet soft as spinifex and flash pink doors as well;
Rated by the stars I find them, but the slickest I must tell
is my swag beneath the Heavens in The Million Star Motel.

In The Million Star Motel my room will always be reserved,
while the neon lights that beckon flash like miracles preserved,
nothing fancy in the bathroom, precious little but the view
by the incandescent campfire, sip the Billy’s bubbling brew,
shelve your finest crystal glasses, for they could not cast a spell
like the sparkle from the ceiling in The Million Star Motel.

Cabins creak upon the railway and their rhythm shunts my mood.
Trucks are hurtling up the highway laden down with frozen food.
Foreign cars are blinding kangaroos, while searching for respite,
warm and cosy, somewhere civilized to spend another night.
If I tried to wave them over, they would think ‘like bloody hell’!
Some are fearful of the bedmates in The Million Star Motel.

Frogs that grunt and gloat about you, fishtails slapping by the moon,
thumping wallabies now scratching for the green pick coming soon,
things that sting you, bugs that bite you, fearsome howling from the rise,
stuff that tunes one’s basic instincts, prehistoric lullabies,
then, before deep sleep caresses you, your heart can’t help but swell
as the roof illuminates you in The Million Star Motel.

Then tomorrow, when I wake refreshed to trek another mile,
pray contentment fills my fuel tank and the sun reflects my smile,
and a cool breeze breeds momentum as I tell another friend,
I’ve found a fine establishment I’m pleased to recommend,
where ideals can mold a future and your mind clears like a bell.
as you buzz into reception at The Million Star Motel.

Plant the seeds of resurrection, what a sweet concept to sell,
healing pleasures, free to dreamers, in The Million Star Motel.

Keeping The Verse Alive

The Million Star Motel is shared with permission from Marco Gliori 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.

Marco Gliori

Bush Poet • Storyteller • Entertainer • Poetry Educator

From a Queensland detective’s badge to festival stages and schoolrooms, Marco Gliori has spent decades sharing the humour and heart of Australian life. A former member of The Naked Poets, he brings country characters and lived experience into verse, and helped Country Campfire’s early podcast grow through his poems and contribution to Episode 100.

→ View Marco Gliori’s Legend Page

Poems, recitals, photographs, stories and original works remain the property of their original creator and are shared by Country Campfire with permission.