FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

174

Will H. Ogilvie

Absent Friends

"Absent Friends!" There are brought to our mind again The scent of the buddah-bush after the rain; The dawn inthe eastward, the death of the stars, The wet grass that reaches the cold stirrup bars;

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

176

Will H. Ogilvie

The March of the Flood

There's a whisper away on the Queensland sid eOf the Barwon a banker, the Warrego wide Spread from range to red range; of trhe siege of a town, Of farms that are wasted and cattle that drown,

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

180

Will H. Ogilvie

God-Speed!

Because we've waked the morning-stars Together, June to June; Because our spurs and stirrup bars Have clasped the same old tune; Because we've drawn one honour-line

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

182

Will H. Ogilvie

A Wind From the West

Te Wind that fires the blood Came leaping in from Westward, Over stone and stake and stud, With the roar of reeling dust-wrack And the moan of lifting flood. The Wind that knows no chains

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

184

Will H. Ogilvie

Abandoned Selections

On the crimson breast of the sunset The Gray Selections lie, And their loely grief-stained faces Are turned to a pitiless sky; They are wrinkeld and seamed with drought-fire And wound at the throat with weeds

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

187

Will H. Ogilvie

The Men Who Blazed the Track!

Since the toasts for the absent are over, And duly we've pledged in our wine Our Land, and our Friends, and our Lover, Here's a toast for you, comrades o' mine: to the fighting band that won the land

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

191

Will H. Ogilvie

Vita Brevis

Our life is but a moment: One sheen of silk and pearls, One dance between the daylights With a certain girl of girls; One feast of burning kisses,

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

193

Will H. Ogilvie

The Truest Friend

I had a comrade tried and true, Should to shoulder we fought life through; And whoever spoke light of his name to me Had a foe to face and a swrd to flee; I'd have staked my life ont he grip of his hand--

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

194

Will H. Ogilvie

Auld Lang Syne

O, it's southward from Southampton! and she takes the Channel gay, But many a heart is bleeding as she stands across the bay; And it may be just parting where we've known a hundred more, Yet many a heart is breaking as the tender swings ashore;

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

198

Will H. Ogilvie

In Town

Where the smoke-clouds scarcely drift And the breezes seem to sleep, Where the sunbeams never lift Half the gloom of alleys deep, comrades! must we languish ever,

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

200

Will H. Ogilvie

Beyond Coolgardie

They are fighting beyond coolgardie, dusty and worn and brown, Leading the outward legion from dawn till the sun goes down: Under their blue sky-banner, standing true to their guns, Singly and shoulder to shoulder, brothers and sires and sons.

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

202

Will H. Ogilvie

Deserted

This is the homestead - the still lagoon Kisses the foot of the garden fence, Shimmering under a silver moon IN a midnight silence, cold and tense; Vines run wild on the old verandah

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

204

Will H. Ogilvie

The Filling of the Swamp

Hurrah for the storm-clouds sweeping! Hurrah for the driving rain! The dull Earth out of her sleeping Is wakened to life again. There are mirrors of crystal shining

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

206

Will H. Ogilvie

Black Sheep

They shepherd their Black Sheep down to the ships, Society's banned and cursed; And the boys look back as the old land dips- Some with a reckless laugh on their lips, And some with aprayer reversed.

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

210

Will H. Ogilvie

The Wallaby Track

O a weird, wild road is the Wallaby Track That is known to the bushmen only, Stretcyhing away to the plains out back And the big scrubs lorna nd lonely! Dawn till dark they are passing there, Over the hot sand thronging

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

212

Will H. Ogilvie

Beyond the Barrier

Are you tired of the South Land, comrad - Of the smoke and the city's din, And the roar of the chiding ocean When the sobbing tide comes in? Would you ride to the Northward, rather, To the skirmish posts of Earth,

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

215

Will H. Ogilvie

Rainbows and Witches

I remember, ever so long ago, at the ohter side of the world away When rain would cease onan April day, When the mountain mists would roll and rise And the rainbow ride in the purple skies.

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

218

Will H. Ogilvie

Handicapped!

Life's race for all is even-lapped To watching eyes it seems; but how we may be handicapped The wide world never dreams. Ah! well for those whose lot is cast Where open war demands;

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

220

Will H. Ogilvie

Memory Town

From dawning to dusk moves the crowd in her street With eyes looking upward, quick pulses that beat. And slow feet that loiter, and dumb lips that call Where sunshine and shadow are crossed

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

222

Will H. Ogilvie

To a Bunch of Heather

Was it early int he autumn, was it sunny summer weather? Were the white mists on the Carter when they plucked you on the moor? Were the mountain dews upon you in the morning, Sprig of Heather, When they took you from your sisters

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

225

Will H. Ogilvie

The Front Rank

We fight on far tracks unknown; We ride the way of the rover, Each with a line of his own; Our banner the blue sky over, Our bugle the bushwind's tone.

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

227

Will H. Ogilvie

The New Moon

New Moon to-night! you will hear them say, Turning their eyes to the glint of gold; But this, as you know, is their quaint little way - Forthe Moon she is centuries old!

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

229

Will H. Ogilvie

The Bush, My Lover

The camp-fire gleams resistance To every twinkling star; THe horse-bells in the distance Are jangling faint and far; Through gum-boughs lorn and lonely

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

232

Will H. Ogilvie

A Spin of the Coin

The Spring is warn and waking, and the wattle's bursting bud; And the longing of the rover makes a faver int he blood; The grass is growing swiftly in the sheltered river bends; And the Bush, our old coy lover, waits

Fair Girls and Gray Horses

FC 11 O-12

235

Will H. Ogilvie

A Dreamer of Dreams

The song-thrush loves the laurel, The stone-chat haunts the broom, but the seagull must have room Where the white drift spins ashore And the winds and waters quarrel