Of Droughts and Flooding rains...

At the moment in Australia we are plagued with ridiculous extremes, just thought I would express my heartfelt thoughts to the nearly 100 lives lost when the thoughtless throwing of cigarette butts from a passing motorist whipped up fires that turned into fireballs and literally wiped out several small Victorian rural towns, with a staggering loss of nearly 100 lives. Yesterday in Sydney we were listed as the hottest place on the planet. It was 44 degrees centigrade and was terrible. North of Sydney and the bushfires in Victoria is Queensland that has a large area that is literally underwater, with floods. Is this crazy or what? I have quite a few assignments on over the next little while and my posts will be sporadic. Sorry about that. Here is a poem I have quoted before from Dorothea Mackellar about Australia.

My Country
by
Dorothea Mackellar
(1885 - 1968)



The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die-
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold-
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land-
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand-
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Dorothea Mackellar


The last picture is of snow around a pool in England sent to me from a friend, Sir Barry Upton Smyth who indicated that England has had a massive cold snap and snow has reduced the activity in England as they hunker down to keep warm.



So, wherever you are, know that I appreciate you and am grateful for you visiting the blogspot here.

Take Care

(pictures taken from ninemsn.com.au) Original poem unedited by Dorothea Mackellar.