Water in the heart of the driest inhabited continent on earth : Lake Eyre : Where the pelican builds her nest

For me, my country - Australia - is an ancient and mystical land. It is the driest inhabited continent on Earth. There is a lot of Australia to see and I haven't seen all I would like to see. I have not been to Lake Eyre. I have flown over it on flights from Melbourne in the south to Alice Springs in The Centre. I have seen the dry veins which in times of rain carry water to replenish the mighty lake.

For those whose spirituality has a desert quality, I have included two things which stir the traditional Australian heart and spirit: a poem and a video (and associated transcript).

Where the Pelican Builds Her Nest

The horses were ready, the rails were down,
But the riders lingered still
One had a parting word to say,
And one had his pipe to fill.

Then they mounted, one with a granted prayer,
And one with a grief unguessed.
"We are going," they said, as they rode away
"Where the Pelican builds her nest!"

They had told us of pastures wide and green,
To be sought past the sunset's glow;
Of rifts in the ranges by opal lit;
And gold "neath the river's flow.

And thirst and hunger were banished words
When they spoke of that unknown West;
No drought they dreaded, no flood they feared,
Where the pelican builds her nest!

The creek at the ford was but fetlock deep
When we watched them crossing there;
The rains have replenished it thrice since then,
And thrice has the rock lain bare.

But the waters of Hope have flowed and fled,
And never from blue hill's breast
Come back - by the sun and the sands devoured
Where the pelican builds her nest!

Mary Hannay-Foott