FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

303

Will Ogilvie

Gallant And Gay

In the bushland far away we were gallant, we were gay; Mixed our labour with our laughter; Cared but little what came after;

careless, lands, misfortune, bolder, fun

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

304

Will Ogilvie

To The Overlanders

Take this farewell from one must leave the rowel and the rein before the blue Canoblas weave their snow-white hoods again;

moon, lies, lagoons, sea, stockyard

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

306

Will Ogilvie

The Dust Of The Years

With the silks in the sunlight gleaming, with the sheen on the stain coats, with the field round the bush course streaming to the cheer of five hundred throats;

ring, tramp, camp, careless, idle, gay

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

307

Will Ogilvie

Bridle Tracks

Out of th years that the locust has eaten, out of the days that are over and fled loom the old roads that the bare hoofs have beaten, wind the old ways that were lovely to tread.

dawn, cloud, pine, irons, shed, dance, glance

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

308

Will Ogilvie

Australia

(From "A Handful of Leather") She has hidden each footprint of mine with a swirl of her deifting sand; My camp fires leave no sign and

remember, silver, creek, wonderful, silver, spider spun

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

309

Will Ogilvie

Comrades

Do the shearers still go riding up the Warrego to work, where the thurulgoona woolshed flashes silver in the sun? Are the bullock-teams still bending through the coolibahs to Bourke?

dense, scrub, death, sweat, steal

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

310

Will Ogilvie

A Bush Night

I remember the tilt of the deep canvas chairs, and the men sitting idle, and out in the paddock a hoof going past and the click of a bridle,

disconsolate, sunflower, summer, mosquito, sandhill

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

311

Will Ogilvie

The Hoofs Of The Horses

The hoofs of the horses!-Oh! witching and sweet is the music earth steals from the iron-shod feet! No whisper of lover, no trilling of bird can stir me as hoofs of the horses have stirred.

despair, care, disappointment, fortune, sweet, love, sleep

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

312

Will Ogilvie

My Australian Spurs

Old and worn my Bushland spurs hang above my desk today. Memory, on that broom of hers, witchlike bears my heart away over seas that restless roll,

sunlight, golden, mist, obey, friendships

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

313

Will Ogilvie

Back To The Border

The face of the Bush, men say, has changed since the far-off days of the "Ninety flood when over the Darling roads we ranged with hope

teams, dust, dreams, dawn

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

314

Will Ogilvie

Stirrup Cup

When a pilgrim rode on a journey or a king rode forth to war or a knight rode mailed to the tourney in the chivalrous days of yore,

impatient, sorrow, tears, smiles

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

315

Will Ogilvie

The Station Mile

I stand alone at the well-known place where wraiths of the Past defile, and wonder how long since last a race was run on the station mile. A new fence crosses the old warn track,

flag, game, trail horse, scarf

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

316

Will Ogilvie

A Leaf From Macquarie

A gumleaf from Warren, all withered and brown, Fluttered out from a letter today, and my heart has gone back where Macquarie winds down by dusty red stock-route and sleepy grey town

overlander, friend, gift, mystical, tears

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

317

Will Ogilvie

The Bushman Abroad

There are snow-white mists on the mountain side, there are wild flowers wet with rain, but my heart goes back where the old loves guide to the big bare plains again.

bridge, ridge, flower, smile, careless, island mob, funeral job

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

319

Will Ogilvie

The Verandah

Though far is that home that our memories environ and dim is the picture it faintly recalls of sun-dazzled roofing of galvanised iron surmounting a straggle of weatherboard walls.

lagoon, moon, stars, ghosts

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

320

Will Ogilvie

Station Ponies

Seventy miles since morning! Hooked up as the magpies woke and the last star left the sky; Home at night with their traces tight and the lean brave heads held high;

sun, perfect, sandhill, luxury car, perfect team, whip

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

321

Will Ogilvie

The Cracker

Someone-I take it some old bush-whacker-has sent me a birthday gift to-day: 'Tis a simple thing, just a silken cracker twisted-you know!-in the old bush way...

homestead, kiss, thunder, heart, wing

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

322

Will Ogilvie

After The Horses

Have they ever waked you early while the shadows lingered yet, Ere the grey light gathered fairly and the drowsy stars had set?

limber, fortune, sunrise, timber, string, gold, thunder

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

324

Will Ogilvie

A Lay Of Lost Horses

Where are the horses we loved of old, the brown, the bay and the grey, with their limbs of steel and their hearts of gold to tackle the longest day?

patient, regret, blaze, hitch, God

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

325

Will Ogilvie

St. Clair

Back in the station days I loved there was a horse, St. Clair! Bred to be good and a good one proved king of the creek, St. Clair! Courage and heart of him undenied.

stockman, swore, race, horseman, dead

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

327

Will Ogilvie

The Border Gate

Dawn gilds the spiders' bridges; Morn mocks the shadows' rout; A mile back on the ridges they put the headlights out; A red-topped coach from Nor'ward

stars, river, Queensland, dense, Jimmy Tyson

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

329

Will Ogilvie

My Hat!

The hats of a man may be many inthe course of a varied career, and some have been devilish dear; But there's one that I always

forgotten, fire, desire, wish

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

331

Will Ogilvie

The Flickering Fire

The day long dreaded is with me now, and the blood in my veins runs cold and slow, for the lustiest spirit to Time must bow when the flickering fire of Life burns low.

desire, flame, beauty, hope, flare

Saddle For A Throne

FC 11 O-13

332

Will Ogilvie

From-"Hearts Of Gold"

I have woven a verse from the glory Australia sheds on her plains; I have stolen her heart for a story and crossed it with rowel and reins;

battle, camps, reels, mystical spell

Is She Country?

FC 11 B-76

7

Marleen Bussma

Is She Country?

What makes a woman country? Is it all in how she preens with rhinestones on the pockets of those clingy tight-fit jeans, or turning country music

paradise, impatient, pool, rest, icy grip, Emma Ehmann