The Lone Guard
Gold panning
The Lone Guard
All is tranquil bar the wind
that annoys and torments leaves in the tree tops
Gusting wind imprisons tumbleweed
in barbed wire fences
Tin flaps against the shell of a miner's shack
A skeletal curtain beats out a tune
against discarded bottles on a ledge
where red dust blankets years of tears and pain
A lightning charge of electricity
illuminates the solitary cross on a hilltop
bearing the carved words - barely visible
Benjamim Turner 1870 -1883
Guarding all that remains
of sleeping memories in other unmarked graves
Tells naught of mental torture suffered by boys
digging the earth like men, beside fathers and brothers alike
Nor of wives and daughters tending chores
aware of dangerous rock falls and cave-ins
facing their men tunneling like rabbits for gold
Their spirit mystifying all that follows
Tough it out
All our life
we’ve worked hard
to raise and teach our family
right from wrong
Yet our pollies juggle us
like puppets
they bend and sway
regardless of what we say
We have no chance
with smart lawyers
they have taken our freedom of choice
and our rights as human beings
They have sold us out
yet most still think
if they get a job and work
all will turn out right
Think again
there are no jobs
with modern technology
we have become their robots
Old Cemeteries
What is it about cemetries that attracts flocks of people to them. No it isnt to visit their own loved ones - its a curiosity or something I just dont know what.
It is amazing how many times while travelling around australia that we have stopped by at the old cemeteries to read the inscriptions on the graves of old pioneering families. They did it tough in those days.
It is eyeopening when you see how many people have lost most of their children at a very young age. We have found that some families suffer more than others. It just makes you wonder why?
© 2008 Eileen Hughes
