Shining River [German translation]

Outside my door, when I was young,

there flowed a shining river,

gleaming in the summer sun,

it used to shine like silver.

And the banks were lined with willow trees

and tall green waving rushes,

and songbirds sang on summer breeze

and nested in the bushes.

Don’t you think it’s time we got together

to save our shining river?

It will soon be gone forever;

don’t you think it’s time?

The willow trees have long since gone,

the birds are getting fewer;

and where my river used to run

there’s just an open sewer;

and the banks are lined with factories,

grey towers of bricks and mortar;

there’s smog and dust in the summer breeze,

and poison in the water.

Don’t you think it’s time we got together

to save our shining river?

It will soon be gone forever;

don’t you think it’s time?

And where the silver gum did stand,

where bloomed the yellow wattle,

now there’s only old tin cans

and piles of broken bottles;

and the banks are lined with mud and silt,

the river’s thick with slime.

And you ask me who must bear the guilt

when the fault is yours and mine.

Don’t you think it’s time we got together

to save our shining river?

It will soon be gone forever;

don’t you think it’s time?

• Artist:Eric Bogle