Many days I wandered where the Snowgums reach the sky
I’ve tramped across those open Plains in snow and tinder-dry
High up in the mountains, where the twisted Snowgum grow
And for many months it’s covered; all blanketed in snow
The peaks are hid, the gullies filled; a frozen world of light
The sun beats down from up above and burns up from the white
And the frozen land and ice-cold air oppose this twofold heat
To make a world of wild extreme; sweating brow and frozen feet
A land that’s sometimes upside down; when storm clouds boil below
Then a wise man knows that to stay safe, it’s time for him to go
For the sunshine can be driven off and your world can turn to white
Then the flying snow and freezing wind can steal away all sight
A map and compass is not much good when landmarks all are lost
And to stay out in that blizzard could mean the ultimate cost
But the wise are long-since settled in warm cabin or in tent
To sit it out and await the end of a storm that’s heaven sent
But this same land, in the summer, is a spectre-ridden haze
Where a man can throw a pack on and wander free for days
There the only things that’s freer are Hawks high in the air
with eyes that seek the prey they know is hidden there,
hidden in the Heathland, where small creatures do abide
They hover there to wait their chance as air currents they ride
With more skill than the skiers who oft glide below
These skiers of the sky, ski the wind slopes that they know
While far below in trails so fine, tiny Antechinus run
And a solitary Snow Daisy desperately seeks the sun
It’s in places like these that I can feel my soul
And walk the trails that make me feel whole
Each footfall a journey on a quest that has no end
just one more revelation at each hilltop or trails bend
So I’ll walk on those paths every chance I get
If that path has end, then I’ve not found it yet
Even today I tramp those paths in my mind
But try as I might I don’t know what I’ll find
On the Bogong High Plains; a spiritual learning
And a secret desire, in my heart always yerning