The Kurdaitcha Tree
Out where the land lies in silence
And whispers it,
Where the sun burns on white skin
'Til it blisters it,
There the earth turns in the Dreamtime
Of Everland,
Bush turns to sand, and dry creek beds
In Neverland.
There lies a farm that has fought
And has weathered it,
Two hundred years, generations have
Gathered it,
Some say their harvest is naught
But a miracle,
Reaping where nothing grows, so
Says the Oracle.
Just enough rainfall to turn
Away famine,
Just enough stock feed to graze
Sheep and cows in,
There in the outback for five
Generations,
The family of Bevan has
Made supplications.
'Is there a God up in heaven?
Why isn't he?
Not in this cauldron of sunshine
And misery,
We could just do with some Mannah
From heaven,
Send down the rain, ' said young
Jacob John Bevan.
Jacob, the last of the line in
His battle,
Breaking his back, digging wells,
Driving cattle,
Steering his tractor along
The dry paddocks,
Beating the drought stricken ground
With his mattocks.
Spreading his seed and then
Watching it wasted,
Hoping for rain, though his God
Had misplaced it,
Crying to heaven to give
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poem by David Lewis Paget
Added by Poetry Lover
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