Mortlake In Drought Poem by Francis Duggan

The countryside around Mortlake is looking dry and brown
But the magpie's flute is echoing in the park of Mortlake Town
And in the paddocks parched for rain in the dry earth grass cannot grow
And it has been a year or even more since the dry creek last did flow
But life goes on in Mortlake Town despite the long dry spell
Though the Town traders financially worse off since the farmers are not doing well
And the sheep and cattle in the bare paddocks are losing weight and getting thin
In times of drought it seems sad to say for none there is a win
El nino not gone back to sea is still lurking around
And any rain that happens to fall the thirsty one sucks from the ground
The farmers for their hungry livestock are running out of hay
The heavy rains they pray for does not fall and 'tis in vain they pray,
The paddocks around Mortlake look bare and brown and dry
And there is not a rain cloud in the clear and blue Autumn sky.