Dying! in the sheltering shade
That the myall branches made,
While the horse-bells clanged and tinkled, far away across the plain;
The white stars above were blinking,
As old Pat Magee lay thinking
Of the faces and the places he would never see again.
That long trip -- his life -- is over,
And the grizzled, gaunt old drover
Gives "delivery;" hands his way-bill to his Owner, up above.
Whether, now, a heaven or hell come,
Pat will find old mates to welcome --
Saints a few and sinners many 'mong the ones he used to love.
Lived his years -- some five-and-fifty --
Neither over-wise nor thrifty;
Many times he "went a bender" from the sober way and straight;
Yet men found in days of trouble
Paddy's friendship was no bubble,
And he never wronged a woman nor went back upon a mate.
And the Boss of all bosses
May be lenient to the "losses" --
On the tracks that Paddy's travelled there were bound to be a few.
Maybe He who pays the wages
Knows how weary were some "stages,"
And there'll be a big "percentage," p'raphs, allowed on coming through.
So we dug upon the 'Bidgee,
Fenced it round with stakes of gidgee,
Paddy's grave! for burial-service Jack just whispered, "Rest his soul!"
Then next morning, heavy-hearted,
Got the nags up and departed,
Did what Pat himself had ne'er done -- left a comrade on a hole.
First published in The Bulletin, 9 September 1893, and again in the same magazine on 5 April 1902;
and later in
Bushman and Buccaneer: Harry Morant: His 'Ventures and Verses edited by Frank Renar, 1902; and
The Poetry of 'Breaker' Morant: from the Bulletin 1891-1903 with original illustrations by Harry Morant, 1980.
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography
See also.
That the myall branches made,
While the horse-bells clanged and tinkled, far away across the plain;
The white stars above were blinking,
As old Pat Magee lay thinking
Of the faces and the places he would never see again.
That long trip -- his life -- is over,
And the grizzled, gaunt old drover
Gives "delivery;" hands his way-bill to his Owner, up above.
Whether, now, a heaven or hell come,
Pat will find old mates to welcome --
Saints a few and sinners many 'mong the ones he used to love.
Lived his years -- some five-and-fifty --
Neither over-wise nor thrifty;
Many times he "went a bender" from the sober way and straight;
Yet men found in days of trouble
Paddy's friendship was no bubble,
And he never wronged a woman nor went back upon a mate.
And the Boss of all bosses
May be lenient to the "losses" --
On the tracks that Paddy's travelled there were bound to be a few.
Maybe He who pays the wages
Knows how weary were some "stages,"
And there'll be a big "percentage," p'raphs, allowed on coming through.
So we dug upon the 'Bidgee,
Fenced it round with stakes of gidgee,
Paddy's grave! for burial-service Jack just whispered, "Rest his soul!"
Then next morning, heavy-hearted,
Got the nags up and departed,
Did what Pat himself had ne'er done -- left a comrade on a hole.
First published in The Bulletin, 9 September 1893, and again in the same magazine on 5 April 1902;
and later in
Bushman and Buccaneer: Harry Morant: His 'Ventures and Verses edited by Frank Renar, 1902; and
The Poetry of 'Breaker' Morant: from the Bulletin 1891-1903 with original illustrations by Harry Morant, 1980.
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography
See also.
