Tribute to A.B Banjo Paterson 17/02/1864 - 05/02/41

AUSTRALIA’S BEST LOVED POETS

MY DEDICATION:

At first this title threw me a bit

It made me think some, ponder and sit

A clever plan I come up with then

About two Aussies, two iconic men

And so for this Sundays recital

Each line hides a poetic title

Sit back, relax, be you man or dame

See how many titles you can name

BANJO’s LOT: (60 poem titles)

Last week, the man from Snowy River

Come-by-chance, Jim Carew, the pearl diver

Lost, under the shadow of Kiley’s hill

With the army mules and saltbush Bill

The mountain squatter, the silent shearer

With the cattle, the amateur rider

Been there before, a voice from the town

It’s grand, the road to old man’s town

White Cockatoo’s, a singer of the bush

A bush lawyer, in defence of the bush

Fed up, an evening in Dandaloo

With Weary Will, an idyll of Dandaloo

How Gilbert died, the lost drink, do they know!

The scapegoat, Clancy of the overflow

Over the range, the road to Gundagai

The diggers and the passing of Gundagai

The last parade, driver Smith, our new horse

Morgan’s dog and father Riley’s horse

The man who was away, on Kiley’s run

The protest, what have the cavalry done!

The man from ironbark, shearing with a hoe

Out of sight, the melting of the snow

Buffalo country, in the droving days

Waltzing Matilda, the old Australian ways

On the trek, with French to the Kimberley

Frogs in chorus, the ballad of the Calliope

Right in front of the army, the reveille

In the stable, Jock, only a jockey

© David Cosh

Hope Island

14

th

February 2019