The 27th Olympiad (2000) Poem by Danny Draper

The Olympics are here in my town
The torch went past my house
People lined the street
Old and new, young and weary
All Australians carried by the moment
Unsure of what to expect
All expecting different things
The fervor, the hype, the spectacle
The unexpected, the procession
Or a dream for humanity
Spoken, sighed, whispered
Breathed and driven as a burning desire,
An ignited inextinguishable ideal
Carried throughout the millennia
Passed on from hand to hand
Entrusted to each runner, every woman and every man.

But once the relay surged right by
And the swell receded from view
It was obvious its light had drenched all hearts
And their spirits rekindled anew
Because for hours after it was gone
People languished in its fame
And recounted in its afterglow their stories of the day.

Its light it ebbed in cauldrons' bed
But flowed again at day,
Inundating the cityscape of street and beach,
Bay and harbour ‘til its crest
Rode the river to Homebush Bay
Where it came to rest
In the young strong hands of a shy dark girl,
Aloft on the tide of the eyes of the world
On a raft of the love of her people
And gave of this sacred fire the gift of flame,
For the cauldron to shine for the world to see
That in art and sport, in friendship
All the people of the Earth can come together
To be the best that they can be.

Now for such a short while,
As I look from my home across towards town
I see flames like a dim stars flicker,
Knowing the games, too soon will be a memory,
The party gone but the spirit living on,
When our friends departure we'll pity
But welcome the day of their return
To Sydney, our Olympic city.


17/9/2000