Cab to Kilcarnup

Peat from Lagolachan’s hillsides - malt whisky water stains -

Through misted gloom, subdued noon brought on by summer’s rain.

West coast Scotland’s stark reminder, of a constant timeless war

Where boiling grey-green rollers strike rocky ocean shore.

CHORUS

There’s a certain Celtic beauty in a coastline facing west,

Where evening sun sets and succumbs ‘neath ocean’s wavy crest.

And with it a reminder, there’s a line that time’s caressed;

There’s a certain Celtic beauty - in a coastline facing west.

At the edge of another ocean, the cliff tops at Dooneen

Echo a muted fiddle-tune where Leprechaun has been.

There’s a pretty west-coast harbour, where trawlers bump and nestle,

And shelter from that whirlpool, where sea and shoreline wrestle.

At Hornfleur and Le Havre, Monet’s brushwork made its mark

On granite showered with water and skylines rendered stark.

Vineyards stretch for miles inland, verdant in the summer sun,

On flint and limestone hillsides, from ocean floor re-won.

In a sunny distant land, a southern hemisphere,

Ancient rock meets ocean, nature’s forces brought to bear.

A tranquil pool from granite carved, by friction and by time,

Is but a frozen fragment on a constant conflict line.

Any Aussie summer morning, when a moment I can grab,

Atop Kilcarnup’s limestone cliff - I’ll park the trusty cab.

Into pale green lucid waters - downwards I will glance -

And catch a glimpse of Scotland, of Ireland and of France.

Cab to Kilcarnup: A. Mann / R. Rummery

Although it sounds Irish, Kilcarnup is a beautiful but remote place on the south-west coast of Western Australia, with significant aboriginal mythology.  It prompted this comparison with the west-facing coastlines of Celtic mythology, and the constancy of the conflict between water and land.  The cover photograph of this album was taken at Kilcarnup.