POETRY SPOT

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‘Cocky’ is Australian slang for a small-scale farmer; (in later use often applied to) a substantial landowner or to the rural interest generally. In Australia there are a number of cockies including cow cockies, cane cockies and wheat cockies. Cocky arose in the 1870s and is an abbreviation of cockatoo farmer.

The following poem applies not only to Australia but world wide.

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Cocky

- Marc Glasby

Like my father before me

I work on the land

and I help feed a nation from sunlight and sand

I've seen the bush burn

and I've seen the land flood

So I give it my all with my sweat and my blood

I've seen the world change

as I've seen the sun rise

and I've seen my stock die right in front of my eyes

I've watched while my neighbours

walk away from their land

and the city folk care but they don't understand

Six generations

have toiled on this earth

the land of our dreams, the land of our birth

The land that we work

is what makes us whole

To just walk away is like losing our soul

My son's in the city

there's no future here

and my wife works in town for there's more bills to clear

I've seen how our town

has started to die

No bank and no doctor, not hard to see why

Pollies fly in

and then out the same day

Like sheep or like donkeys they bleat and they bray

When election time comes

they promise the earth

but their promises have neither substance or worth

So when the last farmer

walks off of the land

When you import your food, maybe you'll understand

When all we have now

is taken away

You'd better believe that you're all going to pay

                      February 2000 Townsville