In The Cascade Gardens Poem by Francis Duggan

In the Cascade Gardens from here far away
The lorikeets chirp in the bright sun of day
And the male green southern fig bird I fancy I hear
The gray brown mottled female to him perched near.

The song of the pied butcherbird one cannot mistake
In Spring he sings in the early dawn before daybreak
And the unmistakeable white ibis for scraps of food scavenge around
With their long bills they cannot probe for slugs in the sun hardened ground.

On the trees by the river gray with heads of light brown
The fruit bats in their thousands roost hanging upside down
At nightfall they venture out and even travel far
To the orchards and gardens where ripened fruits are.

In the Cascade Gardens I fancy I see
Sunbathers in swim wear walking home from the sea
When the cool breeze at evening from the saltwater blow
The memories remain of a place I did know.

Memories of the Cascade Gardens are living in me
The magpie is singing on the wattle tree
The sun brightly shining in the clear blue sky
And the gray noisy miners they chirp as they fly.