Cyclone Debbie
18 Nov 2017
Shirley Clark from the Probus Club of Jindalee lost her family home in 1974. Here, she pays tribute to one of Mother Nature’s more recent displays.
She was the first of our tropical lows
Late in the season with minimal blows
No clue to her future, what disaster she’d pose
Circling closer her intensity grows
Rated a four in cyclonic prose
She whipped the seas into foaming glows
Trashed our homes like we were her foes
Over the land with intent she goes
The east coast was the route she chose
Crossed then to New Zealand, her vile still flows
Her rain came down and the rivers rose
Flowed over their banks as everyone knows
Flooded our homes to add to our woes
She cruelly stole lives, now forever on close
… Put on your boots, you’ll get cut toes
Move the mud with shovel and hose
Left with the smell that gets up our nose
Ruined possessions we must now dispose
Changed our lives, our heartache shows
What to do now? Rebuild I suppose
Raise the levy some will propose
Then we’ll get wet, the others oppose
Cyclone Debbie, history may say ‘grandiose’
‘Her rain came down and the rivers rose’
Shirley is now in the running to win our next Annual Award for Literary Excellence and $300 worth of books, courtesy of Hachette Australia. Want to enter?
EMAIL: [email protected]
POST: Smile, Active Retirees, 369a
Darling Street, Balmain, NSW, 2041
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