A Young Woman From Bena Poem by Francis Duggan

She had no chance of finding work in Bena so she left home when she had turned eighteen
The bigger world out there to her was calling and like they say the far off hills are green
She moved to Richmond close to busy Melbourne and she now works as a teller in a big City Bank
Only a year in her job and she has gained promotion and for her success she only has herself to thank.

Still she would rather live and work in Bena from where she now lives a two hour drive away
And though she admit she still feels a bit home sick there's no future back there for me she say
She's only twenty a dark haired country girl and to city ways one might say she's still green
And she is young and from life has heaps to learn and much to do and so much to be seen.

She still feels home sick for the Gippsland highlands and the Village in the scenic countryside
But father time is always the best healer and in time her nostalgic feelings will subside
It's possible to be home sick in one's home State though home from you it may not be that far
And the Gippsland high country not far from Richmond a two hours drive if even that by car.

The lovely dark haired young woman from Bena is slowly settling in to urban life
And if she falls in love and decides to marry for some lucky fellow she'll make a good wife
She still miss her home Village in the highlands where her father and her mother still reside
But in her heart she knows if she still lived there that more than likely she'd be unemployed.