AustLit

English translation of first line: The lizard trembles as it races to the clumps of grass

The poem is narrated from the perspective of Aboriginal people travelling through dry country in search of water.

The poem is in 7 unnumbered parts. The first, third and sixth parts include short titled poems: 'Akwarela' (Watercolour), 'Portret Człowieka' (Portrait of a Man), 'Śpiew łabędzi' (The Song of Swans) and 'Pieśń węża (Snake's Song)/Pieśń jaszczurki (Lizard's Song)/Pieśń wodnej lilii (Water Lily's Song)/Pieśń innych zwierząt (Other Animals' Song)/Pieśń koczowniczego szczepu' (Nomadic Tribe's Song).

The final part of the poem depicts the advent of urban industrial society in Australia, as viewed through the eyes of the Aboriginal narrators, e.g.: 'już miasto błyska neonem' (now the city's neons flash) and 'Biali ogromni z piórem w ręku/Zgarbieni nad zagadką starych maszyn w dymie' (Whites huge with pen in hand/Hunched over the riddle of old machines, in smoke). The lines 'Już gaśnie pustynia jezioro wraca na mapę' (The desert is extinguished the lake returns to its map), 'Łamie się we mnie pustynia' (The desert breaks in me) and 'Nic Apa Apa Nic' (Nothing Apa Apa Nothing) seem to imply that white society is displacing and erasing Aboriginal Australia. The segment ends with words in an unnamed Aboriginal language, 'Wootoo Wootoo/Wootoo', the same words used to end the preceding, titled poem 'Pieśń węża...' (Snake's Song...).