On a Sheep Station in Perkolilli

Cherry

By Ewan

Thu, 09 Feb 2017
  • 1211 reads
4 comments
 

Tup, ewe, ram, black and other sheep,

corralled, their matted fleece

stained for ownership:

the pen is mightier than the sward.

Eighteen hours in the saddle

and the Southern Cross

looks down on the drover

wishing for the last merino

to join the flock.

 

It’s a long way

from Perkolilli

to Kalgoorlie:

a day’s ride to the train.

A man’s best clothes

can be ruined

in the saddle-bags,

if he doesn’t beat the rain.

 

One, two, three, four and many more

starlit and foolish dreams,

dreamt on the pasture-land:

the head is heavier than the heart.

Eighteen years in the Murchison

since a sweetheart’s kiss,

stolen from a town girl

laughing like the first mallie root

to rook a fool.

 

Footnote

Mallie Root is 19th Century Australian rhyming slang.

Certificate U
Poetry Monthly
Miscellaneous

Comments

Submitted by celticman on

fragment of a life, that's all we can hope for. nicely done. 

 

Submitted by Ewan on

... Jack, your comment is as true as North. Low expectations, the secret of happiness... at least for the Scots.

Thanks for reading and commenting, and thanks Ed(s) for the fruit.

 

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by VeraClark on

A powerful snatch of times past.

 

Submitted by Ewan on

writing it. I really wanted to write something longer perhaps with an interjection from an indigenous Australian voice. (Is that the appropriate term? Probably). However we can't do that kind of thing nowadays, it's cultural misappropriation. I prefer to think of it as walking a mile in someone else's shoes, searching for the empathic link... I could go on, but I won't. Who knows? I've probably offended someone by writing about the past, perhaps that's historical misappropriation.

Enough nonsense! Thank you for reading, and your kind comment.

Author Page at the 'Zon