By the Side of the Road

I lie dead and broken and crushed by the road and the crows make a meal of my eyes I no longer wander the trails in the bush there's no one who mourns me or cries And all who pass by are repulsed by the sight and the smell that hangs on in the air where once I was handsome and vibrant with life my little ones now must despair The thing I did wrong was to cross the big road alone on a dark Summer's night and the last thing I saw as I ran for my life was the blazing of oncoming light I was everything wild, I was everything free I was lizard and emu and roo I was betong and wombat and numbat and quoll I was eagle and black cockatoo So next time you see me all battered and torn lying still under brilliant blue skies don't see me as something grotesque and misformed with the spark of life gone from my eyes Look back and remember the way that I was before my eyes dimmed in the light and next time you travel rest up before dark and slow down when driving at night From my PDF book "Bush Ballads and Bulldust"