I weep for you, the ones who caught
That first fleet crooked smile.
For now it seems ’twas all for naught
Those anxious months and birth’s travail
That in the end to this are brought.
So young to die.
I weep for you, the ones who bound
Themselves so unreservedly
To shape that life with values sound.
Whose faceless fears and sleepless nights
Go prematurely to the ground
With one so young.
I weep for you who listened for
A car returning in the night
That won’t return for ever more.
Who heard instead the dreaded knock
And found a policeman at the door.
So young himself.
I weep for us who blithely read
Of one more young life cast away
By someone else’s drink and speed.
So commonplace it fails to shock.
We turn the page and take no heed.
“I see we won the footy.”