By P Chong                                          Tues. 22 June 2010

Beverley Landscape in Western Australia

I am the basis of all wealth

To enjoy me be sure of your health

I am the heritage of the wise & thrifty

It’s acquired with measures both prudent & stingy.

I am the poor man’s joy & comfort

To the rich it’s a prize & thing of worth

I am the right hand of capitalism

The silent partner of countless realisation.

I am the solace of widow, comfort of the old

The corner stone of security, a fortune worth in gold

I am passed on from generation to generation

As a thing of greatest worth & jubilation.

I am the choicest fruit of toil

And credit respects me with joy

Yet unassuming & humble I am

Only the wise will know & possess me as I am.

I grow & increase in value through the years

The economic cycle bids me no tears or fears

Dormant as I am, my worth keeps on increasing

Without fear of ever failing or ceasing.

Time, an enemy to many, is my friend

And increasing population makes me grand

I defy fire & all elements earthly

For nothing can ever destroy me really.

My possessors learn to believe in me

Invariably they somehow becoming envied

While all the things wither, decay & die

I gain in value, strength, youth & survive.

Minerals like gold & silver come from me

I am the basis of all economic power & myth

I produce the food you eat to live

Unthinkingly, you are standing on me.

Yet so common am I that you pass me by

What am I?

I am L A N D . . . L A N D . . . L A N D!