Narelle Autio PLACE IN BETWEEN: THE CHANGELINGS
4 February to 5 March 2021
“And though you beckon and play, we will not stay here long. We will snatch back the child who trusts too far to your song.”
Judith Wright
Excerpt: Seven Songs from a Journey; VI Sea-Beach
Disappearing into deep water sounds of life drift away.
Silenced by cool sea hands.
Beneath me the sand devils circle
then gently settle, to a rhythm of their own.
In the underwater, empty of breath, I am still.
Tiny jewels shiver. Hold on, then let go.
Fairies, not meant for this world
fleeing up towards the light.
Alone in the shadows, songs drift in and fade away.
Older than time, distant soulful memories, bewitching.
I feel my unborn answer.
Quicken, floating in an ocean of their own.
Listening, waiting. Becoming.
My heart beats.
Get out, get out, get out of here.
Life or something else, ephemeral.
The undersea, a mercurial joining of two worlds.
A birthplace or a primordial yearning
Changing
An explosion of light above, a terrestrial leap of faith.
Welcomed by a cold, insistent watery embrace. Shrouded.
Becoming for a moment, or eternally.
An illusion, a changeling. Born.
An ancient myth, forever lost but now returned