The Drover's Dream
Me thought I owned a cottage,
Of neat and comely shape,
With tines and roses twining
Round the portals of the gate.
Some Clydesdale mares, with ponderous foals
Carolling round their feet,
Were watched by their noble, massive sire,
Of the true Black-Leg clan.
While basking in the sunshine,
As fat and sleek as seals,
Lay the progeny of MacDougald's,
And Moreton's purest breeds.
In a three thousand acre paddock,
With English grasses thickly sown,
Shone a flock of half-bred Leicesters,
In white and flowing fleeces clad.
My heart beat high with hope and pride,
I was lord of all before me !
And was but looking for some charmer fair,
To share this paradise below !
When, "Get up,'' cries Bill, my mate;
Through the wet and stormy night,
"Your watch is on, and the cattle too
are the devil now to keep."
Notes
Published in the NSW newspaper the Hay Standard and Advertiser T Wednesday 9 October 1872 p. 3.