Story Behind The Song

Inspired by walks in the forest. The forests on places like Mount Nardi are often misty and seem to draw the clouds towards them.

Song Description

A reflection on the mood of the forest- the difference between its timeless and the bustle of everyday world

Lyrics

FORESTS OF THE MISTY HEIGHT



Under leaves that hide the sky,
hidden from day's fire eye,
shading green in summer glow,
forests on the mountain grow-
forests of the filtered light,
forests of the misty height.

Dead leaves carpet earth with brown,
where huge fig roots buttress down,
burrow in the shaded ground,
and the moss creeps all around
forests of the misty height,
forests of the filtered light.

Ferns unfold their curving fronds;
painted pigeons croon soft songs
through the moist and quietened air,
resting in the forests there;
forests of the filtered light,
forests of the misty height.

Old trees fill the topmost screen:
black bean, booyong, carabeen,
white beech, strangler fig, and all,
all the others, growing tall;
as our hurried decades flee,
without growing patiently.

Through the secret gullies flow
clear, cool streams, soft-singing low;
and the palms stand all around,
draping berries, bright and round;
silence is an ocean there,
drowning daylight's fret and care.

And the world's noise fades away,
as the busy light of day
fades beneath the ancient trees,
where life's spirit lives and weaves
forests of the misty height,
forests of the filtered light.