Spring Cannot Be Far Away Poem by Francis Duggan

The oak tree forlorn and leafless and the day is cold and gray
But through the earth young buds are peeping Spring cannot be far away
And the spotted dove is cooing making known his territory
And any time of year in Nature wondrous things to hear and see.

Buds appearing on the wattles they bloom in the Winter hours
And very soon the cootamundras will be cloaked with yellow flowers
And the currawongs are calling high on the eucalyptus trees
And the cool chill of the Winter in the strengthening mountain breeze.

White browed scrub wrens and superb blue wrens in and out the dry swamp reed
And in the scutch grass in paddock headland red browed finches search for seed
And at night out in the paddock you can hear masked lapwing sing
Their brood raised in depths of Winter will be fully fledged by Spring.

Many people see the Winter as the Season of decay
Little warmth in the sunshine and the mornings cold and gray
But even in the depths of Winter in the Southern Hemisphere
Some birds are busy nest building they can sense that Spring
is near.

It was cold enough this morning at a guess zero degrees
And the wattlebirds were calling on the gum and wattle trees
And in the high bare mountain paddock the first lambs of Winter play
And through the earth young buds are peeping Spring cannot be far away.