The restless rover has left the track
Of "dust and flies" in the far "out-back";
He has dumped his swag by the Maori sea,
And we're lonely here in the old Gum-tree.
For the green leaves quivered to hear his song
Of the right of Right and the wrong of Wrong,
And the dead leaves turned from their misery
To hear that hymn in the old Gum-tree.
Will he find new themes in the Maori land --
A league of sea for a league of land?
Then his pent-up notes will be all too free,
Till he come back and sing in the old Gum-tree.
First published in The Bulletin, 17 July 1897
[Written on the occasion of Henry Lawson settling in Kaikouri, New Zealand, as a schoolmaster.]
