From Mansfield to Benalla (The Freeway)

[Stephen Whiteside]

From Mansfield to Benalla (The Freeway)

From Mansfield to Benalla is divided now at last,
So cars and trams and buses can ride on it safe and fast.
It partly runs through cuttings, and it's partly off the ground.
The traffic runs - four lanes each way - with scarcely any sound.

From Mansfield to Benalla is a most important link,
For Melbourne, bursting at the seams, was taken to the brink.
The North East - final domino - was forced to take the slack,
And once you flood huge numbers in, there is no turning back.

"From Mansfield to Benalla" takes a heavy traffic load.
The only kangaroos you'll see lie broken by the road.
The sheep and cows are long since gone. It's houses front and centre,
So slip your soul beneath the mat if you should choose to enter.

From Mansfield to Benalla now is just another stretch
Of lights and signs and bitumen that make you feel a wretch.
The valleys and the hills are gone, and all the corners, too.
From Mansfield to Benalla is just traffic passing through.

© Stephen Whiteside 13.06.2016

[Shelley Hansen]

Great stuff Stephen - this is becoming quite a collection! As Picasso had a "blue" period, so Whiteside has a "Mansfield to Benalla" phase

Cheers
Shelley

[Stephen Whiteside]

Thanks, Shelley.