PROGRESS?

Cattle trucks drive highways now
where drovers once held sway
Heavy rigs of chrome and steel
replaced the horse and dray

Gravel tracks of rich red earth
that rambled near and far
Have disappeared forever
‘neath miles of hot black tar

The billabong by shady gums
stands empty cracked and dry
The thirst of modern farms it seems
lets river systems die

The campfires of the cattle men
that used to dot the plains
No longer flicker in the night
no sign of them remains

Bush ballads sing of sweeping plains
where brumbys still run free
Of wild un-harnessed rivers
and clear inviting seas

But brumbys fall as feral pests
the rivers drained and dry
The sea is choked with sewage
where fish and sea grass die

As the romance of the outback
begins to fade away
We learn that progress has a price
we’ve all been forced to pay.

Progress?

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An original collection of poems about life in Australia.
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