The good old days we hear them say.
A good days pay made stooking hay,
the depression they had when my dad was born
was often talked in thoughts forlorn.
Yet in those days the wild was still there.
Fish in the rivers,
rabbits on the run,
ducks on the dam,
kids having fun.
Work hard
life a test
diggers returned
with pioneer zest.
Too many to feed and clothe
A sad decision all parents loath.
Not enough to go around,
bags packed
head down,
sister gone without a sound.
Years go by, fortunes favoured
wheat harvested spare time savoured.
In new sheds wool is shorn,
long thrown away thoughts forlorn.
The eldest leave
the lost come home,
happy tears how much she's grown.
Once Shanks now Steak
A better life you could not make.
To stay afloat a hard earned grind
with money still hard to find,
but food on the table love in the heart,
their own young are now ready to start.
Then the recession we had to have
natural resources long faded away,
no trees for sleepers or fruit to pick
and no rain to sow for the hay.
A harder depression than my father saw,
once proud farmers went down by the score.
Hands on work was the first to go
as machinery advanced its cause,
think tanks invented Cyber space
in but a pregnant pause.
With the need to eat and the resource gone
now they battery grow our food,
global prices in our small town
have really become quite rude.
Governments mismanaged irrigation,
then blame us.
With the stroke of a pen the water dries up
leaving 'em wallow an' choke in the dust.
The global recession hits superfunds hard .
Swallowed nest eggs an' took their back yard.
Grandparents now live
in a department flat,
fed with departments money,
Remember ‘whens’ the chat with old tales of milk and honey.
The good old days a long way gone,
not able to work too frail to play
..."Can't hear what the young'uns say."
Hand in hand the wrinkles fit,
once proud of their world,
now don't give a *..*.
Their kids are fine
grand kids too,
reminded of names,
now haven't a clue.
Their fourth depression hits
when they're ready to rest on the hill,
these days a good Old day
is only managed by a pill.
