The Murray River

By Sally Irwin

Irrigation
is sucking it dry.
Black sulphuric acid,
toxic metals and sludge,
pH below 5 –
arsenic wastelands spread.

It’s spreading
further than we know
Where the Murray
meets the ocean,
no bird life thrives.
It’s choked at the mouth.

Pelicans and fairy terns
are all in decline.
Trees are dying.
Each passing day,
more and more water
slips away.