SALTY WATERS

It’s sad to see the river now, all silted up with mud
Where pools of crystal water lay, before the yearly flood
Where once the yabbies make their homes, in holes beneath the bank
There’s nothing now but salty brine, that smells both foul and rank

The river gums grew tall and green beside the river's flow
Could not withstand the rising salt and so they ceased to grow
No trout will swim this river now they’re long since dead and gone
Mosquito fish, the only things that managed to hang on

When farming land was cleared and felled there was no way to see
The water table rising and the dread salinity
And every year more land is lost it’s just like some disease
It’s all because we came along and cut down all the trees

The trees were pumps that kept the salt locked up beneath the ground
But when the water table rose it was no longer bound
The river dies a little more with every passing year
And salt becomes a monster that we all have come to fear

(c) Jan 2006 Written at Popanyinning, Western Australia

Gordon River, Western Australia.

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