They have arrived from Siberia's cold northern shore <br />Eight thousand miles as the crow fly from here or maybe more <br />High above the coasts and cliffs by the sea <br />They do not need a passport these creatures are free. <br /> <br />Yet they are not free to live where they were born <br />They leave the cold north in the cold Artic morn <br />They leave the cold north just ahead of the snow <br />For the warmer south as the Artic winds blow. <br /> <br />It's their lust for survival that carries them south <br />And perhaps the lust for survival is what all life's about <br />They leave the far north for the south far away <br />And return for to breed in late April and May. <br /> <br />We may envy them their freedom though they are not truly free <br />for they must leave their home shore on the northern sea <br />In the Artic Winter they surely would die <br />So south for survival they are forced to fly. <br /> <br />From the Siberian Artic they have made it to here <br />A journey they undertake two times a year <br />Above coastal Asia and many a coastal town <br />And by coastal eastern Australia they have journeyed down.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/artic-waders/
