Edwina Smith is a retired nurse/midwife from Canberra.
She donated these two nature poems ‘Arthur’ about Canberra’s Earless Dragon and ‘Pippa and Puggles’ about a platypus and her baby. Both with a conservation message!
ARTHUR
by Edwina Smith, August 2024
They call him a dragon
Yet he breathes no fire
His keen, sharp eye
We love to admire
Looks like he’s earless
But sound is loud and clear
Tucked within Arthur’s head
A tiny inner ear
Such a sweet little chap
Very rarely seen
Found in native grass
Where a plough’s never been
He smartly scamps to hide
‘Neath rocks, in burrows too
Sadly ‘tis come to pass
His numbers are so few
Along came a drought
The worst for many years
Sightings even rarer
Worries turned to fears
What’s to be done
To bring him from the brink?
Clever minds gathered ‘round
They all began to think
Working on the detail
How to breed and feed
Three agencies combined
Together took the lead
United in their cause
Success with raising young
Progress drawing nearer
The challenge has begun!
Found nowhere else on Earth
So precious and so rare
His plight ever urgent
With no time to spare
It happens in a heartbeat
Another species lost
Lest change comes this very day
We’ll forever count the cost
Tidbinbilla is Arthur’s home
He lives in ‘lizard style’
With everything he needs to be
And all the while
More baby dragons
Are hatching from their eggs
Close to extinction
Now running on lively legs!
We must protect our grassland
Or chances will be missed
This dainty little fellow
On our ‘Endangered’ list
Needs habitat to grow
To feed and to thrive
Efforts have been made
We hope he does survive
Numbers are increasing
Knowledge timely gained
Has helped a little lizard
His kind have been regained
We trust the day will come
‘Critically’ can be filed
And we see them dart about
The grasslands of the wild
PIPPA AND PUGGLES
by Edwina Smith, September 2024
Most unusual is Pippa
A ‘mix and match’ of features
One may think perhaps
Belong to other creatures
Her home’s a flowing stream
With banks on either side
In which she has a burrow
A safe, dry place to hide
Her face is like a duck
Yet no quack is heard
Fur instead of feathers?
She is not a bird!
But Pippa lays eggs
And feeds young with milk
A swift and streamlined swimmer
With style smooth as silk
Shy and rarely seen by day
She waits until twilight
Diving into cold and dark
To feed throughout the night
How does she find some food?
Receptors in her bill
Help her catch shrimp and worms
She can have her fill!
Pippa has become a Mum
She’s raised a little one
Playing in the burrow
His time has just begun
Growing strong, it won’t be long
Till Puggles takes his turn
Joining in with nature
A role he needs to learn
Quiet and reclusive
Pippa makes no fuss
But she’s so important
To each and all of us
Protect and save our waters
Rivers, ponds and streams
We must see, she’ll always be
Not just in our dreams!
Puggles is four months old
Almost fully grown
‘Tis time for him to venture out
And make it on his own
Pippa’s care has served him well
But now her job is done
He’s ready to explore their stream
With setting of the Sun