New Year's Eve By The Hopkins

The shrike thrush in feathers of light fawn and gray
Is whistling on trees by the old waterway
Known as the Hopkins River that crawls deep, wide and slow
Through the valley between the high ground by Warrnambool where gums and wattles grow
Towards the Blue Hole in view of Moyjil to the Pacific shore
It has flowed forever and will forever more
In new year's eve by the Hopkins in the green and brown countryside
Away from the traffic noise peace and beauty abide
In the breeze the sweet scent of grass mowed for silage or hay
How pleasant to be by the Hopkins today
From where the revellers celebrate in the pubs of Warrnambool from here not far
A quarter of an hour at most by car
On a pleasant evening of sporadic sunshine of twenty degrees
With the sweet scent of mowed grass blowing in the freshening breeze