It would not be summer, here, in Australia, without the cicadas. Their whirring, chirping, jangling noise fills the air and if one is really close to cicadas in full voice one can be deafened. There are many different species. Australian children have had non-botanical nick-names for them for years. They like to catch them and keep them in match-boxes. This is rather sad as cicadas live underground, sometimes, for as much as seven years and only live above ground to mate (or to be popped in a matchbox!). In my days as a teacher I wrote a little musical play called 'Cicada Circus' about all the different types of cicada. This is one character. I'll introduce the whole cast in time.
(Come to think about it, nowadays, cicadas are safe because the children don't know what matchboxes are and they are too busy with their Play Stations to bother about cicadas, anyway. Is this conservation?)
CICADA ONE
(Come to think about it, nowadays, cicadas are safe because the children don't know what matchboxes are and they are too busy with their Play Stations to bother about cicadas, anyway. Is this conservation?)
CICADA ONE
CHERRY NOSE
I was born with a proboscis.
That's a clever sort of word
Which merely means my nose is large
And really quite absurd.
Not only do I have a conk,
But the conk's a brilliant red!
I sometimes feel I've got a nose
That's bigger than my head!
One day the people laughed at me
When I went into town.
'That's it!' I thought, ''I make them laugh!
So I'll have to be a clown!
I'll make my nose an asset
And join a circus troupe.
I'll fool around and have some fun
In a travelling circus group
I'll learn to love my poor old nose
If it can bring me fame!
Rudolph the Red Nosed Insect!
That will be my name!'.
