Spiros Poem by Francis Duggan

On the gum trees in the sunlight the fruit bats roost upside
down
On the farm of the farmer who lives far from his Hometown
Far from the small town south of Athens where his journey south began
In fifty two when he was twenty a young and restless man.

He had dreams of buying a farm in the sunny Southern Land
Where opportunity awaited those young and willing to expand
He worked for seven years in Sydney where he met one he loved true
And Spiros married Vicki from Athens in nineteen sixty two.

They both came from the same Country and she too loved the rural life
And she made an ideal partner and for him an ideal wife
And they pooled their resources and bought a farm near Lismore
In Northern New South Wales off of the highway in nineteen sixty four.

But his Vicki died in childbirth and in the Town cemetery
She is buried with their still born son how sad this life can be
And the years have gone so quickly time it ticks and ticks away
Since his wife and child were buried seems like only yesterday.

Spiros named his farm 'Vicki's Farm' in the memory of his wife
And despite all he has been through he's found happiness in life
He will never return to Greece says he will die in Lismore
In the farmhouse he has lived in since nineteen sixty four.

He tends his sheep and cattle and in drought times feed them hay
And he mends and builds new fences and he works hard every day
And he loves living close to Nature and knows each bird by their song
From the magpie to the butcherbird and the pied currawong.

In the paddocks from late evening male roos cough into the night
And he hear the bickering possums as for territory they fight
And the calling of the boobooks from the gums in the moonlight
The sound of wild creatures prevalent where the world is dark and quiet.

Since he left the Town near Athens half a century ago
He has known his happy moments and great sorrows he did know
He owns three hundred acres of Australia that great dream he had came true
And he's still a happy fellow despite all he has been through.