September's Come To Visit

With darkened face and in his cloak of silvery gray I saw the black faced cuckoo shrike today Perched on dead branch at top of dead gum tree He uttered forth his cheerful melody. The migrant bird some know as shufflewing Had come home to the mountains for the Spring His mate nearby sits on small stick built nest With three blotched green eggs warm beneath her breast. A clouded sky an hour of heavy rain And then the warming sun shine out again The welcome swallow low o'er paddock fly And magpie flutes his distinct notes of joy. The only part of Planet Earth some say Where you will get four seasons in one day Strong wind and rain and hail and warming sun The year's four seasons all rolled into one. Young lambs in paddocks frolicking about And September's come to visit Belgrave South And willy wagtail sing on barbed fence wire His welcome to the spring in Sherbrooke Shire.