Artic Waders

They have arrived from Siberia's cold northern shore Eight thousand miles as the crow fly from here or maybe more High above the coasts and cliffs by the sea They do not need a passport these creatures are free. Yet they are not free to live where they were born They leave the cold north in the cold Artic morn They leave the cold north just ahead of the snow For the warmer south as the Artic winds blow. It's their lust for survival that carries them south And perhaps the lust for survival is what all life's about They leave the far north for the south far away And return for to breed in late April and May. We may envy them their freedom though they are not truly free for they must leave their home shore on the northern sea In the Artic Winter they surely would die So south for survival they are forced to fly. From the Siberian Artic they have made it to here A journey they undertake two times a year Above coastal Asia and many a coastal town And by coastal eastern Australia they have journeyed down.