Oh, a weird, wild road is the Wallaby Track
That is known to the bushmen only,
Stretching away to the plains out back
And the big scrubs lorn and lonely!
Dawn till dark they are passing there,
Over the hot sand thronging,
Shouldering burdens of Doubt and Despair,
Passion and Love and Longing.
There are pearls of dew on the Wallaby Track
For the maiden Day's adorning,
And blush-clouds beating the night-shades back
In the van of the golden morning;
There are glories born of the sinking sun
In the splendid Eve's lap dying,
A glitter of stars lit one by one,
And a rustle of night-wings flying.
There are long bright days on the Wallaby Track,
With a blue vault arching over,
And long, long thoughts that are drifting back
To the waiting wife and lover;
There are horse-bells tinkling down the wind
With a thousand rippling changes,
And the boom of the team-bells intertwined
From the far-off mulga ranges.
There are stars of gold on the Wallaby Track,
And silver the moonbeams glisten;
The great Bush sings to us, out and back,
And we lie in her arms and listen;
Our dull hearts quicken their rhythmic beat
For a wild swan's southward flying,
And gather old memories sadly sweet
From a wind-swept pine-bough's sighing.
There are lone graves left on the Wallaby Track,
And the bush-grass bends above them;
They had no white hands to wave them back,
Perhaps --- no hearts to love them!
But none the less will their sleep be sound
For the Hope and Love denied them;
They will hear no tramp on the thirsty ground
Though our path runs close beside them.
First published in The Bulletin, 6 June 1896;
and later in
The North Queensland Register, 7 November 1927; and
Fair Girls and Grey Horses: With Other Verses by Will H. Ogilvie, 1958.
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography
See also.
That is known to the bushmen only,
Stretching away to the plains out back
And the big scrubs lorn and lonely!
Dawn till dark they are passing there,
Over the hot sand thronging,
Shouldering burdens of Doubt and Despair,
Passion and Love and Longing.
There are pearls of dew on the Wallaby Track
For the maiden Day's adorning,
And blush-clouds beating the night-shades back
In the van of the golden morning;
There are glories born of the sinking sun
In the splendid Eve's lap dying,
A glitter of stars lit one by one,
And a rustle of night-wings flying.
There are long bright days on the Wallaby Track,
With a blue vault arching over,
And long, long thoughts that are drifting back
To the waiting wife and lover;
There are horse-bells tinkling down the wind
With a thousand rippling changes,
And the boom of the team-bells intertwined
From the far-off mulga ranges.
There are stars of gold on the Wallaby Track,
And silver the moonbeams glisten;
The great Bush sings to us, out and back,
And we lie in her arms and listen;
Our dull hearts quicken their rhythmic beat
For a wild swan's southward flying,
And gather old memories sadly sweet
From a wind-swept pine-bough's sighing.
There are lone graves left on the Wallaby Track,
And the bush-grass bends above them;
They had no white hands to wave them back,
Perhaps --- no hearts to love them!
But none the less will their sleep be sound
For the Hope and Love denied them;
They will hear no tramp on the thirsty ground
Though our path runs close beside them.
First published in The Bulletin, 6 June 1896;
and later in
The North Queensland Register, 7 November 1927; and
Fair Girls and Grey Horses: With Other Verses by Will H. Ogilvie, 1958.
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography
See also.
