Who's the One?

So I slept in this morning, and spent a long time waking up with a pot of tea and a Sunday morning, no-rush read of the weekend papers (and thanks to the magic of daylight savings, it's not even midday yet) discovering in the process that poet Michael Farrell won this year's Peter Porter Poetry Prize, which is one of Australia’s most respected awards, and which comes with a handy $4000 boost to his possibly impoverished, starving-in-a-garret lifestyle.
What I love about his winning poem Beautiful Mother is that Michael bravely used a scene from Kimba the White Lion that he saw when he was about five. In it, Kimba is swimming from a shipwreck back to the jungle and is getting tired and is about to give up when a vision of his mother is formed by the stars in the sky encouraging him onwards. The thing is, I remember that scene! I even get a bit teary just thinking about poor Kimba, all alone without his Mum and Dad. Not a victim of circumstances, our little lion remained brave and honest and true. What a role model. Even if although he did get into a few fur-flying fisticuffs, like all heroes, he always did so reluctantly, and always showed mercy towards his pummelled foes.
Anyway, hats off to a poet who is unafraid to put references to Friedrich Schiller and Kimba the White Lion together to create art: You've always associated the two terms together/ partly due to your reading of Schiller / partly due to your watching of Kimba. Kimba sublimates / his mother in the water. You've always thought / your mother a baroque figure...
To celebrate this daring cross fertilization of ideas and brighten your Sunday, pop across to YouTube and sing-along with this. Come on, you know you want to. I can't believe how choked up I get listening to it. I'm a tiny child again, and the world is full of honest and brave people, and Good always triumphs over Evil. Memories and nostalgia can evoke powerful emotions. No wonder poets tap into them.

Kimba (Kimba) Kimba (Kimba) Kimba (Kimba)

Who lives down in deepest darkest Africa?(Africa)
Who's the one who brought the jungle fame?
Who's the king of animals in Africa?
Kimba the White Lion is his name!

When we get in trouble and we're in a fight
Who's the one who just won't turn and run?
Who believes in doing good and doing right?
Kimba the White Lion is the one!