Homework w/e 11.04.11 OH HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN

[Maureen K Clifford]

OH HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN


Oh how the mighty have fallen and with them the end of a dream
for nature has been and eroded their banks as she travelled upstream.
In the empty void of nights darkness as we sit around the fires coals
it’s apparent that all here are saddened, a sadness felt deep in our souls.

They lie there behind us all tangled, their limbs are in sad disarray.
Their corpses rest stiff, cold and silent – and who over them will now pray?
It seems it’s the end of an era – we’ll not see their like here again.
Their loss will be felt by so many and hundreds will share in the pain.

And now down the track we hear movement – we see a glow of orange lights
and out of the darkness emerges – four tippers, a bobcat and right
behind is a huge Franna crane truck with muscle to lift twenty tonne,
they have come for post mortem and burial – a sad job but one to be done.

Midst the whine and the squeal of the chain saws and the thundering crash of big limbs
is an undercurrent of conversation and it’s not discussing which hymns
should be sung to honour the fallen – but rather where they should be placed
for by day’s end they all will be taken – and all signs of them be erased.

By nightfall the site’s cleared and empty – just marked by the heavy trucks tracks.
It’s quiet here now by the river, who at last to her bed has gone back.
A blanket of brown wraps around her, but there is no sweet lullaby
the red gums that sheltered her waters are gone, all that’s there now is sky.

Those beautiful gums by the river were ripped by her and tossed aside
and now she repents and lies docile – but at what great cost to her pride.
And oh how the mighty have fallen and sad though it is to relate;
what took over one hundred years to grow strong took just hours to eradicate.


Maureen Clifford © 04/11

[Maureen K Clifford]

Thanks Marty ... Wrote this about Colleges Crossing a popular picnic area here on the banks of the Bremer river. There used to be a lovely restaurant set in the middle of a lovely paved courtyard area with the biggest fig?? tree ever in the middle that supplied shade over the whole area. The restaurant was a demountable building and so the council was able to get that out before the floods got to it...but the big tree is gone and the rest of the area stripped bare. You can see the restaurant clearly in these shots

http://viewfromabove.com.au/index.php?o ... 1&catid=34

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQxxNcStR1o

The ones on the Moggill Ferry are interesting as well - the Moggill Ferry joins Ipswich and Brisbane. Moggill is on the Brisbane side of the river and is a very upmarket area with homes on lovely acreage blocks. If you had 10 acres of river frontage before the floods you have probably only got 8 now. You can see one of the riverside properties where he had contoured and planted hundreds of trees prior to the flood - now all gone.

Cheers

Maureen