Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/113
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What used to be.
77
The speargrass crackles under the billy and overhead is
the winter sun;
There’s snow on the hills, there’s frost in the gully, and,
oh, the things that I’ve seen and done,
The blokes that I knowed and the mates I’ve worked
with, and the sprees we had in the days gone by;
But I somehow fancy we’ll all be pen-mates on the day
when they call the Roll of the Sky.
the winter sun;
There’s snow on the hills, there’s frost in the gully, and,
oh, the things that I’ve seen and done,
The blokes that I knowed and the mates I’ve worked
with, and the sprees we had in the days gone by;
But I somehow fancy we’ll all be pen-mates on the day
when they call the Roll of the Sky.
XLIII.
What used to be.
Hill an’ ridge an’ barren river, all the station ridin’,
Mobs o’ cattle, flanks a-quiver, in the ti-tree hidin’;
Cloudin’ dust, an’ red sun flarin’; ’member how we caught ’em,
Wheeled ’em (thousand eyes a-glarin’); ’long the sidin’ brought ’em!
Ride! Rouse ’em up across the hill-tops!
Bring ’em down the gullies in the dawn;
For the boys are set an’ goin’, an’ there’s half the herd a-lowin’—
Whoo-oop! through the yellow of the dawn!
Mobs o’ cattle, flanks a-quiver, in the ti-tree hidin’;
Cloudin’ dust, an’ red sun flarin’; ’member how we caught ’em,
Wheeled ’em (thousand eyes a-glarin’); ’long the sidin’ brought ’em!
Ride! Rouse ’em up across the hill-tops!
Bring ’em down the gullies in the dawn;
For the boys are set an’ goin’, an’ there’s half the herd a-lowin’—
Whoo-oop! through the yellow of the dawn!
Gleamin’ horns like lines o’ lances—an’ the mob stampedin’;
Why did you—yer knew the chances—head them, never heedin’
Why did you—yer knew the chances—head them, never heedin’