Dear Editor
I have enjoyed your paper for a long time and will always be grateful for the kindness and compassion that surrounds us here. I grew up in a world where hard work, respect and kindness were a basis for guiding us into the future. When we moved to Parkes, we found our true home.
Help is given freely, people smile and speak in passing on the streets, hard work continues each day.
Please find enclosed one of my poems that has special meaning about how I feel and how proud I am to be Australian.
Kind regards,
Janette Hill
Australia
Sing me gentle lullabies
that soothe me with their sound,
hold my hand ‘til morning,
for then I’m on my way.
I’ll cross the land around me,
I’ll see this morning sunrise,
and watch the evening tide,
I’ll pick a desert bloom for you
and watch the petals fall.
I’m but a wind that’s calling
I’m but a fallen soldier trapped inside your spell,
just another casualty
of a land that holds my heart,
a land of hidden beauty
and one I know so well.
Treat this land with kindness,
see the gifts it gives,
learn its ancient wisdom
calm its troubled heart.
Bring it peace and shield it
from the soul who mean it wrong.
Stand proud beneath the gum trees
and sing a song or two,
give her all you’ve got inside
and she’ll be true to you…