"Destined Minds"

the sun burns down
drizzling over hot dusty plains
and waves of heat give rise
begging the heavens to open up
and pour out the liquid drops
the long awaited rains

but no help comes to the farmer on the land
the crops are burnt and fried
harvest empty as tractors lie dormant
the cattle are rotting
and now all the sheep have died

the season is now past
failed crops ploughed back in the ground
forsaken and forgotten
the farmers heart is broken
as dirt dust and death lay all around

the land our culture and our heritage
but how we dishonored it though
through poor practice and now salination
and how we miss used the Murray Darling Basin
that causes our rich land such contamination

hope no longer, the cry of the rural heart
silent and as desolate whether cultivating land
or raising cattle stock
the farmer presses forward
despite the earths irreverant mock

so when you blame the farmer
for their cruelty to our land
and while policy makers sit in ivory towers
planting a weekend tree
and thinking they are so grand

think of Australian farmers
who dare to walk the walk
investing in their carbon sequestrian
unlike you an I the urbanite
who do no more than talk the talk

Maree Long
(c) Maree Long May 2010

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/rooted/2008/10/08/australian-farmers-walking-the-walk-not-talking-the-talk/