I need help about an Australian light verse

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I need help about an Australian light verse

sandra
New Member

since 2003-12-29

Posts 1

0 posted 2000-05-07 10:43 AM

I am French, and there are a few things I don't understand in David Campbell's poem: Canberra Incident which I joined below:

At the Treasury the girls were making tea
While we made love. While we were making love
They walled the valley; water greened above
Us locked like bees in summer amber. We
Are the true guardians of this garden city
Who died as lovers die that it might live
And fertilized by us, each morning give
Thanks over teacups at the Treasury.

The horned god passed. Young women dressed in denim,
In faunskin, ran with song and willow wands
To the thin woods about Mount Ainslie. There
They danced a measure, plaiting in their hair,
Snakes and wild orchid, and hunting down like hounds
The Treasurer, they tore him limb from limb.

Could you please help me? I don't understand the following things:
-what is the Treasury?
-what is that tea?
-is the "water greened above us" a kind of metaphor for tea?
-what does "give thanks over teacups mean"?
-who is the horned god?
-what is faunskin?
-who is the Treasurer?
-any idea about the rythmic pattern?

Of course, answering only one or two question(s) would be fine.
Thank you.

Isis
Member Ascendant

since 1999-09-06

Posts 6296
Sunny Queensland

1 posted 2000-05-08 09:17 PM

I am Isis and I'm Australian let's see if I can clear up a few things for you..
Tea is either the drink or Aussie term for Dinner.
Treasury is to do with Government, in charge of all the money, printing money etc. Heaps of people work there for the government for the treasury in Canberra. That is our political capital like America's Washington.
Water greened above us, referrs to the building of the new government house in Canberra, in a beautiful valley it was built, and many thought it an unnecessary eyesore.

Giving thanks over teacups mean, like the British we stop for afternoon tea of a drink of tea and biscuits and many important political decisions have been made, looking over the brim of a teacup!!

The Treasurer is head of Australia's money, and he fancies the girls, horned god meaning he thinks he is hot stuff and all the girls want him.
No specific rythmic pattern, just different.
Hope this answers your questions, email me if you have any more, or still don't get something.
Isis

A heart and soul are not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others...
~Isis~
(Goddess - Sovereign of the Spirit)

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