Step Up

• Liam Horan, Grade 6
• Poetry
• 2021

The swaying of the branches, the great rust-coloured fields
The land goes on forever, a sight that makes me healed.
The silence in the daytime, not a person in sight.
The brilliance of the stars that shine throughout the night.
A rabbit here, a snake there. Now everywhere we go
We’re intruding on their land, our people have stooped low.
But then the big tractors come, the streets and blocks get built
Our wide and open plains are now going to wilt.
But nobody is weeping, just looking out and smiling
At the money they’ll make, while we’re just left here crying.
The whistling of the birds, the noise of the crickets.
It’s all been taken away, and makes us buy our tickets.
We leave our great big paddocks, replace them with the town
And what? We got some money? Well I would rather drown.
We need to step up right now, save our dying planet
To just keep our land alive or erupt in utter panic.