"Henry Lawson's Flag"

Clickety clack the heated rails sing

We’ve broken a continents back

Iron snakes spouting coal spume

Black man cries

Another tool

Give me

Food

Technocrats inherit entitlement

Robber baron’s grandchildren

They beat us black

Beat us red

Just trying

Feed my

Family

Down open pit sores in earths skin

Extracting chemicals mineral

Wealth for those in charge

Pay spent company store

Beer and cigarettes

Cheaply buy us

Off wanting

More

Ant piles need workers never complaining

Children aren’t grubs without minds

Spouses care when we cant lift

Arms to work in their holes

No work no pay no food

Just want an even

Break

Time to give overlords walking papers

Give them what they have given

No kindness no mercy no help

Let them want for food

Suck in air polluted

Drink water bad

Goodbye

Maybe our children then can see daylight

Not covered in ore dust chemical clouds

Watch free water flow over their

Tiny hands full bellies clean

Hair clean eyes not swollen

Where a southern cross

Flies

Maybe see Henry's
Flag a Flying...


-DS Baker