My Country
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.
My home is in Melbourne in South Eastern Australia.
Australian wild flowers
A vintage find.
Oh Happy Australia Day to you!!!!!
Thank you Caroline!
Happy Australia Day. I’m in Sydney but Melbourne is my adopted home I lived there for nearly 10 years. Wish I could move back. Hope you have a great weekend!
Same to you! I lived in Sydney as a baby but can’t remember doing so, but it’s a beautiful city to live in with the harbour I’m sure.
Enjoy your Australia Day Jen ! Would love to visit again and see more .
Which parts of Australia did you visit?
Not Melbourne Jen 😦
We spent 3 wks in NZ then onto Sydney and then flew up to the Whitsundays …we camped at Airlie Beach and went out on the GBR, drove upand back to Cairns . Last time it was Sydney and the Winelands and the Blue Mts . I can’t see it happening too soon again but will never say never 🙂 Loved it all !
Well never mind, you got to see some stunning parts of Australia. I’m jealous, I’ve never camped on Airlie Beach although I have got to snorkel on the reef.
🙂 next time maybe I will drop in on you 😀
Oh and also … maybe you have seen but do take a look here … I think it is beautiful http://leafandtwig.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/sharing-solitude/
I saw and thought of you 😀
That would be so much fun! Thank you so much for leading me to the owl photograph, so beautiful……
I loved your post. Happy Australia Day to you too. We are very blessed to live in this beautiful place.
Yes we are, sometimes I think we don’t realise just how lucky we are.
Happy Australia Day!!!
Thank you very much!
jennifer- happy-bloody-australia day to youse! i love the 79 teatowel…retro at it’s kitschy/parochial/over-coloured best!
Gday Reretro, throw another prawn on the barbie!
I’m jealous – that is such a cool tea towel
It’s great isn’t it, it jumped out at me whilst scrummaging around in a box!
Happy Australia day neighbour, I hope you celebrated with beer n barbie 🙂
But of course!
happy australia day from a london owl! x
Why thank you london owl!
Gorgeous garish colours! Love the yellow/pink combo. It made me smile!
They are very LOUD colours together aren’t they, but quite fun I thought. 🙂
I love this poem. She was from Gunnedah. [Dorothy Mackellar] I drove through there yesterday after a few days visiting my mother in North West NSW. I’m a country girl. I love the sweeping plains but must admit had forgotten about the heat. So very hot and dry at the moment. Nice to be back on the coast. We are indeed the lucky country. Happy Australia Day.
It is so dry at the moment, the dirt is more like dust in my garden. We need rain, a big thundery downpour. I’ve never been to Gunnedah but I did camp in Mildura one summer which we realised was a big mistake – 46 degrees on New Years Eve in a tent!
Beautiful poem; I got teary-eyed at the cattle dying part! Happy belated Australia Day (it is 9 am here as I write this, and there’s a 15 hour time difference!)
The cattle dying part is so sad, we get such terrible droughts for years sometimes in Australia. It must be heartbreaking for the farmers.
yay australia day! my little brother has been adventuring in your country for almost a year now…making his living as a street musician. 🙂
Wow, what an exciting way to live, I hope he’s having a ball. 🙂
Happy Australia Day!
Thank you!
A lovely post to celebrate Australia Day : ) And the tea towel is great!!! You can never have too many vintage tea towels (I should know – I’ve inherited quite a few)!
I am in complete agreement, no such thing as too many vintage tea towels.
I like your thoughts on Australia Day and I am glad there is no flag draping involved. 🙂
No flag draping at this house, but perhaps some nice vintage bunting would be good? Sadly I think my husband might draw the line at that!
I’m a fan of that tea towel! very kitsch! Happy (belated) Australia day!
It is so kitsch and what about the colour combination, eye dazzling!
Loved the poem, and I’ve always loved the whole idea of Australia. Hope to get there someday, and when I do, I’m gonna shake your hand!! : )
That would be great Mark! There is lots to see and do here and lots to illustrate too!