Poem: "Banjo's" Book by Will H. Ogilvie

A volume arrived by mail to-day
   From the land of Captain Cook;
I opened it up with a loud "Hooray!"
   For here was the "Banjo's" book.

'Tis many a day since the "Banjo" strings
   Were touched to a tune of my heart,
And work and war and a thousand things
   Have wafted us worlds apart.

But I can go back when my eyes are shut
   To that hour in the long-lost time
When first I heard in a Darling hut
   The ring of a "Banjo" rhyme.

Those were the days when a boy's heart beat
   To the rhythm of life and love,
To the music drummed by a horse's feet
   And fifed by the wind above.

And I'm glad that his book got through all right,
   Unsunk by a submarine,
For "Banjo" and I can be mates to-night
   As we go where our hearts have been.

First published in The Bulletin, 12 July 1917