This is the one that picked up the themed thingo at Ippie Poetry Feast. The theme was Faces of Ipswich.
Faces she has worn
Leonie Parker © 2012
She’s a beautiful old lady and her face belies her age
but a close consideration will discern each passing stage
of the sum of her existence and the faces she has worn
through her terrors and her triumphs since the time when she was born.
As she grew she saw the changes that the passing years bestow
and her knowledge is reflected in the face we’ve come to know.
Looking closely there are traces of the girl she used to be
in the face she is now wearing. If you love her, you will see.
She has seen the changing patterns of a world within her reach.
Looking skywards she bears witness to a Hornet engine’s screech
and remembers (maybe fondly) an old Hornet she once saw
flying proudly from a paddock when the world was dogged by war.
She has witnessed many changes in the air and on the ground,
was the first to hear (in Queensland) that distinctive haunting sound
of a locomotive’s whistle as it clacked along the track
that still snakes away from Ipswich out to Grandchester and back.
When her face was streaked with coal dust, deep within her heart she wept.
Though the mines sustain her children she still mourns for those they kept
but she holds her head up highly, courage is her rule of thumb.
In a world that can be daunting she will always overcome.
She has raised her face to heaven while her skirts trailed in the mud,
but her spirit won’t be broken, not by fire, drought or flood.
Weight of water cannot crush her she is made of sterner stuff.
Back in her day, when they made her, they made ladies like her tough.
Now the face she wears is modern (with a touch of days gone bye)
looking forward to the future with excitement in her eye
and her family is growing, bigger, stronger, day by day.
She’s the changing face of Ipswich, and she proudly leads the way.
That wasn't Manny.
She writes for Hallmark I believe.