Robyn Davidson

Escapism to just be able
To walk into the sun
With inventiveness and with creativity
When the day is done
A vivid imagination
Word paintings in ones soul
A rhapsody of poetry
Within ones own control

Growing up in Queensland
After her mother died
Looked after by her fathers sister “gillian”
Needing a place to hide
Went to a boarding school
In Brisbane
Music helped her see
She actually won a scholarship
But it was not to be

She enjoyed bouts of tranquillity
And dreamed her hours away
She really loved the animals
For they all seemed to display
A willingness to love
A willingness to care
She loved their airy fairy lives
And such whimsical hours would share

In 1975 she moved to Alice Springs
And spent
2 years with some camels
She felt that she had been sent
To study wild Australia
And to take a trip alone
Just her and her sweet animals
The ones really that had shown

Thoughtful participation
4 camels and her dog
And decided she would travel
Through the desert
And would log
Her experiences so set out
In 1977 to trek some 1700 miles
And make it her own heaven

To enact her aboriginie throughts
Certain she could try
And forage and live off the land
And, would not deny
The struggles and the rigour
That these groups bore out each day
And with their help and her respect
Of them
She made her way

Spirited with bags of grit
She tried to comprehend
The meaning of each moment
And being mindful did depend
Able to talk herself through
The expectations she
And was able to stay grounded
With her credibility

She was able to be happy
By herself potentially
Within the bounds of what infact
Was possibility
Well grounded and well founded
And an unshakability

Intuitively, her sixth sense
Helped her with her belief
She clearly was enlightened
For her such a relief
She had studied survival
And folklore was her thing
You could say that she was savvy
And that that infact did bring

And air of quietly confident
And an ability to see
Common sense and the sharpest wit
And her mental capacity
For shrewdness and a worldly wisdom
Able to reflect
To see the best in everything
A sage I do detect

I mean it seemed like madness
To go off on one’s own
Across the desert and outback
With 4 camels who had shown
Clearly love and care for her
As had “diggity”
But she felt very confident
With them so happily

They started off together
Sleeping underneath the stars
With the aura of the milky way
And ofcourse no cars
That She was with her animals
And out there On the trail
With kangaroos and wallaby’s
Creating her own tale

“Tracks” would be a book
A film and a truly rugged trek
Across the desert outback
Keeping herself in check
Swimming in the waterholes
Living off the land
Surviving in the desert sun
And trying to understand

The hardship that was evident
Her vigilant display
The sleepless feverish restless
Nights all along the way
Tending to her animals
Every single hour
And being actually able
With her concentrated power

And Really she the trailblazer
A women alone too
Taking on this massive journey
To do what she had do
The fear and trepidation
To be counted to be there
Having to confront danger
With everything to share

She managed it and got to
The Indian Ocean where
Everything looked beautiful
And no where did compare
The camels loved the ocean
The wonder of it all
What was her transformation
The enigmatic call

“Dookie” “BUB””Zeleika”and
“Goliath””Zeleika’s” son
That was the 4 camels names
And “Diggity” the dog
The fun
Was really the association
With the animals and the trail
The drama the sensation
Which all together formed
Her great tale.