Ormiston Gorge from Retreat by Ancient Animal Orchestra

It was a quiet night
The desert air felt so thin
We walked across loose rocks
On our way from the camping ground

Gathered sticks and small branches
And piled them high for a fire
Then Dad went back for the matches
Just as darkness began to fall

It was a cloudless night
With more first stars than we could count
The fire kept us all warm
As we stared into its ever shifting hues

We dreamed up constellations
And joked about the dangerous rangers
Lurking, hidden in the shadows
Watching us deep down in the gorge

The night sky milky blue
All awash with great lakes like drifting spirits
The moon and its sunspots and craters
They look the same as always

We talked of parallel universes
And of how time travel just might be real
We discovered the meaning of it all
Then smoked marshmallows in the embers

Rolled out our mats under the moonlight
Under a blanket of dancing stars
My sleeping bag was freezing cold at first
Then I fell asleep with the image of the coals

The night sky lights up
With the glow of falling stars like fiery demons
The warm campfire crackle
It sounds the same as always

• Folk
• ambient
• experiemental
• improvised
• indie folk
• storytelling
• Melbourne