Out There In The High Country Poem by Francis Duggan

Out there in the high country under a starry sky
The boobook owl is calling and I hear the vixen cry
Perhaps she is out hunting or searching for a mate
The time is ripe and time doesn't wait for her to copulate.

Out there in the high country the night creatures are out
The wombat softly whistles and the nightgars fly about
And the big male roos are coughing in the dim moonlight
And the nocturnal creatures search for food in the stillness of the night.

Out there in the high country the dingoes are on the prowl
And on a manna gum tree a male koala growl
To warn other males of his kind this is my territory
The females in this patch of wood belong solely to me.

Out there in the high country long after darkness fall
The shy nocturnal tawny frogmouths utter their soft familiar call
And the brush tail and the ring tail possums can be heard on the trees
And the leaves are gently rustling in the freshening mountain breeze.