Reed Flute Cave

Oodgeroo Noonuccal

Guilin, September 29, 1984

I didn't expect to meet you in Guilin

My Rainbow Serpent,

My Earth Mother,

But you were there

In Reed Flute Cave,

With animals and reptiles

And all those things

You stored in the Dreamtime.

Pools of cool water, like mirrors,

Reflecting your underbelly.

The underground storage place,

Where frogs store water in their stomachs

And mushrooms and every type of fruit,

Vegetable, animal and fish,

Are on display.

Perhaps I have strayed too long

In this beautiful country;

The reed flutes are playing a mournful tune.

The cool air rushing through

The rock cathedral

Reminds me of the sea breezes

Of Stradbroke

And the reed flute seems

To be capturing the scene.

The slippery earth stone floor

Takes me back to mud sea flats,

Where seaweeds communicate with oysters

Fish and crabs.

Have you travelled all this way

To remind me to return home?

Uluru, your resting place in Australia,

Will not be the same without you.

I shall return home,

But I'm glad I came.

Tell me, my Rainbow Spirit

Was there just one of you?

Perhaps, now I have time to think,

Perhaps, you are but one of many guardians

Of earth's peoples,

Just one,

My Rainbow Serpent,

Spirit of my Mother Earth.