LAND OF CONTRAST

I've sat atop the Great Bight cliffs
in the teeth of a howling gale
I've sat and watched in sunlit seas
the mighty southern whale

A country full of contrasts waits
for those who care to start
to seek her azure oceans
and walk through her red heart

From little towns that linger still
when all but hope is gone
to city streets and office blocks
where 'burbs go on and on

The river lands of fruit trees
the valleys strung with vines
The snowy mountain high lands
and stands of native pines

The sprawling desert wilderness
a dry as dry can be
The mighty eastern ranges where
the wedge tail still soars free

The boabs fat and naked
with the coming of the dry
no clouds about to hide the sun
that passes through the sky

Then with the monsoon comes a time
of clouds and floods and rain
and when the winds blow strong enough
there comes the hurricane

I’ve travelled round this country now
from deserts to the sea
and now I know the meaning of
“the wide brown land for me.”

(c) August 2002 Written at Eden Valley, South Australia.

Seven Sisters, Great Ocean Road, Victoria.

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