This Side Of The Border

We’re different this side of the border, set
apart from cooler climate cousins in the South
– it’s more an attitude of mind than an amount
of self-esteem and though there are fewer of us
than them the Census rates the northward drift
significant – such that Queensland’s growth is
envied much by churlish sister states.

Humourists who contemplate our laid back
ways appear intrigued by hayseed images they
bandy in the Press –we’re less amazed when
counting cars that always flood the Highways
heading out from gloom to taste the choice
of fresh, unfettered freedoms. That’s the nature
of this State; them’s the breaks – no worries mate!

When you emigrate please leave your broken
bum behind; this is a State of Mind you’ve
joined, a happy State that bathes in smiles
and endless miles of ocean beaches – vistas
seen in constant stream though ordinary reaches,
Queensland green and growing but be at least
aware, most of us weren’t born here either.
© 14 March 2007, I.D. Carswell