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The plains are silver!
The sky is white, and the fruit-blossoms are white,
Shaking and shining in sun, an eddying haze.
The air hangs round them like unseen bees.
It rises from them laden and faint,
Beating its wings towards the mountains,
Settling on lips and nostrils.

The plains are gold!
The orange-trees waver in autumn haze.
The fruitage bursts through the green line gold,
Or in the milder light dims and swells
Like great topazes moon-enchanted.
In the wind they are flames;
The stillness veils them in quivering smoke;
In the dusk they are vaporous echoes.

The plains are blue!
Beneath dawn, amethystine,
A runnel of lucerne-flowers;
Or, in the night-stillness of winter,
A mirror of heaven-calm,
Making flat earth an infinity
Where love creates rarer than heavenly stars.

First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 December 1928

Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography

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The sunburnt ---- stockman stood
And, in a dismal ---- mood,
   Apostrophized his ---- cuddy;
"The ---- nag's no ---- good,
He couldn't earn his ---- food --
   A regular ---- brumby,
                     ----!"

He jumped across the ---- horse
And cantered off, of ---- course!
   The roads were bad and ---- muddy;
Said he, "Well, spare me ---- days
The ---- Government's ---- ways
   Are screamin' ---- funny,
                     ----!"

He rode up hill, down ---- dale,
The wind it blew a ---- gale,
   The creek was high and ---- floody.
Said he, "The ---- horse must swim,
The same for ---- me and him,
   Is something ---- sickenin',
                     ----!"

He plunged into the ---- creek,
The ---- horse was ---- weak,
   The stockman's face a ---- study!
And though the ---- horse was drowned
The ---- rider reached the ground
   Ejaculating, "----!"
                     "----!"

First published in The Bulletin, 11 December 1897;
and later in
Complete Book of Australian Folk Lore edited by Bill Scott, 1976;
The Penguin Book of Australian Humorous Verse edited by Bill Scott, 1984;
Old Ballads from the Bush edited by Bill Scott, 1987;
Australian Bush Poems, 1991;
An Australian Treasury of Popular Verse edited by Jim Haynes, 2002;
Our Country: Classic Australian Poetry: From the Colonial Ballads to Paterson & Lawson edited by Michael Cook, 2004; and
The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry edited by John Kinsella, 2009.

Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Poetry Library

See also.

The winged words, they pass
   Still everywhere,
Seeds of the spirit-grass
   The dream-winds bear
From that heart-field to this,
Where thought as feeling is;
There's not a seed will miss
   Life, once sown there.
 
They pass, the faery words,
   In shade and shine,
As they were magic birds
   This heart of mine
Gave shape and colour to,
As in the light and dew
The primal creatures grew
   From germs divine.

First published in The Lone Hand, 1 July 1908;
and later in
Lyric Moods by Robert Crawford, 1909; and
The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse edited by Walter Murdoch, 1918.

Author:  Robert Crawford (1868-1930) was born and lived in Sydney.  He attended the University of Sydney, worked as a clerk in that city and ran a typewriting business.  He died in 1930.

Author reference site: Austlit, Australian Poetry Library

See also.