THE COUNTRY TOWN

A hill overlooks this dying town
set like a gem in the green and brown
of surrounding paddocks with lines of blue
to mark where the river and creeks run through.

You’d never know it was dying to look
from the top of the hill as sunlight shook
a gold dust mantle across the scene
of pastoral beauty, lush and serene.

But take a walk on the once fine street,
now brown and shrivelled like blighted wheat
to notice the shops that are boarded up,
your only companion a mangy pup.

The sickness that’s spreading across our land
is killing small towns wherever they stand -
at first it’s a bank that’s closed its doors,
but then it’s the grocer and other stores.

We’re losing more than a town here and there
and somebody desperately needs to care!
We’re losing a precious link with our past
as towns with character disappear fast.

Replacing our funny old country towns
are cities where smiles are swapped for frowns,
where nobody cares two bob about you
and the checkout lines just funnel you through.

You’ll shop where each store is one of a chain
and no-one hopes that you’ll call again;
there’s plenty of stock and the cost is low
and this is the reason the small towns go.

A future historian might well look
at pictures in some old record book
and wonder how this town could have died -
when we should have protected it with pride.