2019 Far South Coast Yatra

2019 Far South Coast Yatra – Gulaga/Mimosa Rocks

3 – 12 May, Southern NSW

Route:
Mt Gulaga – Kamalashila Tibetan Buddhist Centre – Wallaga Lake – The Crossing – Bermagui Nature Reserve – Mimosa Rocks National Park – Gillards Beach

Facilitators:
Ronny Hickel, Mary-Claire McLean, Christopher Chemsak

Beams of Sunlight (tanka)

morning …  sunlight flickers – heart flutters – sitting buddhas – cast their long shadows

faltering – on the trail – I hear – the whistle and crack – of an Eastern Whip Bird

we barge – in to that site – so sacred – treetops wave in the wind – ancestors are agitated

watching – pilgrims head off down – a green laneway – knowing I’m in the right place and time

how carefully – they hold the fence – open for me – ducking under, walking on – into the night

pilgrimage … – a transformative journey …  – I’ve become – a ravenous wolf – bingeing on fruit cake

looking up – from twisting hip pose – to the dawn sky – through eyes partly  – clouded by tears

naked  – and vulnerable – holding hands – we cross the river – stumble through shifting sands

bums in the air – faces in dirt – smoke from the fire – early morning yoga – at Aragunnu

into silence – conversations – continue … – what I should have said – what I could say

you set the fire – with bark and leaves – I strike a match – red coals will glow – through the autumn night

in the grey dawn – a small flame flickers – our thoughts – are wandering … – do they plan or remember?

I fill my lungs – with ten days of life – compressed – and wood smoke – from all those camp fires

caressing – the intestine – meridian – trying to find a toilet – in dark and in rain

moving clouds… – beams of sunlight – on the water – one by one – my sangha revealed

a south wind – shivers the lagoon – suddenl – though the sun still shines – it’s a long way from home

Gerry Jacobson

pics and drawings by Trace Balla