writing4fun

THE GREATEST AUSSIE ICON
Leonie Parker © Wednesday, 10 September 2008

A softly spoken lady lived across the street from me,
When I was just a little girl, footloose and carefree.
I loved to go and visit as she worked, her hands in clay,
Making pretty little earthen pots; I could have watched all day.
She mixed the colours of the land in those same earthen pots,
Then she painted lovely pictures made with tiny little dots.

She lost her husband in the war; so sometimes she was sad
But she had her seven children and that made her heart feel glad.
She told them tales of Dreamtime where the waves of ocean’s swells
Wash the sands of Fraser Island where the Rainbow Serpent dwells.
Her children laughed aloud at songs their Mum with humour sang,
And they learnt the ways of old, like how to throw a boomerang.

She dug roots and fished for yabbies when the money got too tight.
Ancient skills meant that her children never knew a hungry night.
She knew which plants were safe to eat and which to leave alone;
Could communicate with Nature, had no need for fax or phone.
She knew this land and loved it, its rivers and its plains.
Forty thousand years of love was coursing through her veins.

The media’s awash with tales of drug abuse and grog,
And I’ve heard the racist comments; things I wouldn’t call my dog.
So because that toxic message is spread both far and wide,
I have a burning need to sometimes paint the other side.
We talk of Aussie icons, Vegemite and Bushells tea,
But the greatest Aussie icon lived across the street from me.