🐟...Rivers & Waterways...🐊 Poem by Carola Hume

Our planet's waterways and variety of natural contours are truly amazing,
From thin streamlets, meandering rivers, to wide outpouring ocean deltas.
Banks sculpted by the water's momentum from the mountains to the valleys,
Rivers flowing fast or slow, punctuated by magnificent cascading waterfalls.

Widening into lakes, or moulded into oxbows from horseshoe river bends,
And billabongs remnants from floods of the past, all remarkable features.
Not forgetting man-made canals built for transportation or flooding benefit,
Can see boats and barges in a variety of shapes and sizes, gliding past.

Bright and sunny days compels the water to shimmer, dance and dazzle,
Glistening in colours of blue, green and brown, in clear to muddy variations.
I can see intense sun-rays penetrate to shallow depths on cloudless days, or
It's muddy opaqueness blocking these rays of light to the creatures below.

A visual magnetism for me, releasing daydreams of watery amusement of my past,
I am tranquil and mesmerized in thoughts of what could lie beneath the surface.
Could there be Murray Cod, Trout, Perch or Crayfish? An angler's delight no doubt,
Slippery eels and turtles gliding past; water beetles and frogs seen perchance.

Green algae, aquatic plants, seaweed, hosting clusters of clinging fish eggs and,
Some tadpole larvae, spiders with air bubble webs or worms wriggling in the silt.
Along foliage covered river banks and under the shade of overhanging trees,
Hidden burrows are comfy homes for platypus, the waterways their playground.

Water-walking spiders, mosquitoes, insects, dragonflies darting here and there,
Hungry fish leap catching mouthfuls of hovering fat insects and mosquitoes.
Little birds skimming across the surface catching their alfresco meals on wings,
Ducks, swans, pelicans paddling, preening feathers, eying likely meals beneath.

Long-toed swamp-hens wading and searching for tasty insects, seeds and more,
Protruding rocks occasioned by wet cormorants air-drying their outstretched wings,
Fallen trees make convenient bird resting posts and bridges for small creatures,
Tropical riverbanks sees crocodiles sunning or in the water lurking just beneath.

Large rivers such as the Murray, Darling, Goulburn, Yarra names I learnt in school,
Sees boating people, water-skiers, and swimmers jubilating on our waterways,
Children frolicking along the wider river banks and picnicking on sunny days, and
Locals having fun and tourists visiting from countries thousands of kilometres away.

Waterways, its banks and shores become homes, a food source and leisure places,
Availed by wildlife and people alike…can we live in harmony and share our spaces?
Do we entitle one group to dominate, constantly developing for modern and new?
Auspicious plans to accomodate both groups, will allow fauna and flora to survive.

Planet Earth's geological shapes and atmospheric surrounds - the spirit of our earth,
The enfolding stars, galaxies, moon and warm life giving sun for all life to be shared.
Unparalleled life-giving water from streams, rivers, lakes and oceans, …and it's
Natural cycle from ocean to evaporation, precipitation, snow, remains in perpetuity.


written Oct.2018