OK Bob, I'll kick it off, here's one I threw together for you know who
Why I Live where I Live (for Macca)
Well G’day Ian my dear friend
I’ve listened to you now for years.
I’d like to mention if I could,
you’ve brought me laughter and some tears.
So I’ve put this together and,
it’s something I would like to give
and share with you and listeners,
why I like living where I live.
I love it here in our far north
and Cairns is where I now reside
where poets always find their muse
and most of life is lived outside.
Our Winter can’t be classed as cold
though sometimes reaches eight degrees
and Mexicans just can’t believe
what we call ‘cold’ or ‘nippy breeze’.
Most mornings here in paradise
are mesmerizing pinkish blues
then in the evening at days end
we finish with light purple hues.
Now Ian, here in my backyard
where rainforests and beaches meet
you’ll stroll the winding forest tracks
within a tropical retreat.
Where Blackbean and the Silky Oak
Red Cedar and the Kauri pine,
Cathedral fig and Quondon trees
have grown as long as ‘Old man time’.
There’s golden Penda and tall Gums
with ancient Elkhorn by the score,
there’s scaly tree ferns everywhere
while crystal creeks wind through the floor.
And if you watch with eagle eye
you’ll spot some Bennets Kangaroos,
might hear a white lipped tree frog croak
or screeching sulpur Cockatoos.
While higher in the canopy
a Lesser Sooty Owl now darts
and swoops towards a white tail rat
who senses danger and departs.
And all the while there’s butterflies
like Birdwing and the swallowtail,
Ulysses and Helena Brown’s;
don’t all of them just seem so frail?
Boyd’s dragon and the Bandicoot,
the Swiftlet and the Lorikeet
all these creatures share our forest,
and every single one’s unique.
I haven’t mentioned golden shores
which stretch as far as one can see
or swimming on our untouched reef
or named the life beneath the sea.
There’s many more that I could name
and so much more that I could share
but why not view this for yourself
our beauty is beyond compare.
I’d like to keep this poem short
but it’s a little hard to do
because there’s so much beauty here
I want to share with all of you.
And while I sit surrounded by
a world that’s still so primitive,
I hope I gave a little glimpse
Why I love living where I live.
David J Delaney
14/06/2011 ©
