I want to hear the neighbour sounds,
Faye singing out to Rod.
Craig tinkering in his shed,
Lorraine calling for her dog.
I want to hear familiar cars
Pulling in for the night,
An engine stopping signal
They made it home alright.
I want to hear the footy
Being booted in the park,
A parent’s voice a’hollering
Come home, it’s getting dark.
I want to hear the dusky sounds,
A walker, their four-legged mate.
A quick g’day to passers by,
Words lingered by the gate.
I want to hear the noises
Of my small town neighbourhood,
The sounds that made me safer
Than I ever understood.
I cannot hear the noises now,
The water washed them all away.
The noises cannot live here
Because the noises cannot stay.
I know they will come back
As noises often do,
Not all at once, but one by one,
First some and then a few.
The noises might be shaky,
They’ve been given quite a fright,
But a small town knows a thing or two
About holding on real tight.
The water washed the familiar
And left something strange behind.
It rearranged what was
And left it broken, out of time.
But it didn’t take our strength,
Our community, our core.
And I can get through waiting
If the noises come once more.