Trekking through memories <br />of lamp-lit holidays <br />choked by thorns and leeches, <br />I find myself revisiting Walhalla - <br />old gold-mining town, <br />old ghost-mining town. <br /> <br />There, in damp and misty air, <br />shrill bellbirds ring out loud <br />and chilblained hands <br />catch frogs in Stringers Creek. <br /> <br />Small feet in gumboots <br />creep by luck and match-light <br />through long abandoned <br />dry and musty tunnels. <br /> <br />Eager eyes read words <br />of anguish and despair <br />on tombstones half-buried <br />by time and blackberries. <br /> <br />Today the town is flooded <br />with tourists and electric light*, <br />yet that intangible spirit <br />of pioneers and pickaxes <br />still haunts Walhalla - <br />old gold-mining town, <br />old ghost-mining town. <br /> <br /> <br />*Walhalla was Australia's last mainland town to be connected to the national electricity grid in February,1998. The resident population is nine.<br /><br />Alison Cassidy<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/revisiting-walhalla-valley-of-the-gods/
