天空是铜色的，平原是光秃秃的，到处都是死亡和废墟——去年的洪水只剩下一条病态的溪流，流淌在灰黑色的泥土上;咸泉冒泡，沼泽颤抖，还有——这是达令河的挽歌:“我在干旱中从昆士兰的雨中升起，”我一次又一次地填满我的树枝;我徒劳无功地拖着我的水潭，为了我的生命和我的人民，南海在奔流;土地会变老，人们永远不会看到达令河的价值。我淹没了干涸的沟壑，留下了光秃秃的小山，我把干旱的车辙变成了潺潺的小溪，我形成了绿油油的小岛和林间空地，直到每一个弯道都是一片森林。“我已经灌溉了十法里宽的荒地!”“可是我白费了力气，啊!”我徒劳地试图“显示伟大的赐予者的标志”，对人们说:哦!锁住你的河。我不需要轰轰烈烈的驳船停泊，而是四季如一的汽船; `I want fair homes on my lonely ways, `A people's love and a people's praise -- `And rosy children to dive and swim -- `And fair girls' feet in my rippling brim; `And cool, green forests and gardens ever' -- Oh, this is the hymn of the Darling River. The sky is brass and the scrub-lands glare, Death and ruin are everywhere; Thrown high to bleach, or deep in the mud The bones lie buried by last year's flood, And the Demons dance from the Never Never To laugh at the rise of the Darling River.