Thoughts On Citizenship Day. Poem by Frank Halliwell

Thoughts on Citizenship day.

Frank Halliwell

Can you hear the trumpet fanfare?
And the crowd shouting 'hooray'?
Cause they're making me a citizen
Down at the hall today!

Who will make the presentation?
Will it really be the ones
Who have the greatest claim on it,
Or those who had the guns...

To wrest it from those peaceful blacks
Who owned this ancient land
To make a place for criminals,
...The thief and the brigand!

But I'll front up for the paper
And attend the little bash
While the pollies in Canberra
Dip their fingers in the cash...

...And fly around the country
Visiting ficticious joints
While the Australian taxpayer
Funds their 'frequent flyer' points!

'Matilda' always stirs my soul
A song without compare!
But I have reservations on
'Advance Australia where? '

But I love this land of blue skies
And I have for decades past,
And when the dealer calls my hand
It's here I'll breathe my last...

Where sparkling diamonds fill the night
And nothing dulls the gloss,
Of paradise in southern seas
Beneath the southern cross!
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