Judith Wright - Brother and Sisters lyrics

The road turned out to be a cul-de-sac; stopped like a lost intention at the gate and never crossed the mountains to the coast. But they stayed on. Years grew like gra** and leaves across the half-erased and dubious track until one day they knew the plans were lost, the blue-print for the bridge was out of date, and now their orchards never would be planted. The saplings sprouted slyly; day by day the bush moved one step nearer, wondering when. The polished parlour grew distrait and haunted where Millie, Lucy, John each night at ten wound the gilt clock that leaked the year away. The pianola – oh, listen to the mocking-bird – wavers on Sundays and has lost a note. The wrinkled ewes snatch pansies through the fence and stare with shallow eyes into the garden where Lucy shrivels waiting for a word, and Millie's cameos loosen round her throat. The bush comes near, the ranges grow immense. Feeding the lambs deserted in early spring Lucy looked up and saw the stockman's eye telling her she was cracked and old. The wall groans in the night and settles more awry. O how they lie awake. Their thoughts go fluttering from room to room like moths: “Millie, are you awake?” “Oh John, I have been dreaming.” “Lucy, do you cry?” – meet tentative as moths. Antennae stroke a wing. “There is nothing to be afraid of. Nothing at all.”