DROUGHT by Will Ogilvie

My road is fenced with the bleached, white bones

And strewn with the blind, white sand,

Beside me a suffering, dumb world moans

On the breast of a lonely land.

On the rim of the world the lightnings play,

The heat-waves quiver and dance,

And the breath of the wind is a sword to slay

And the sunbeams each a lance.

I have withered the grass where my hot hoofs tread,

I have whitened the sapless trees,

I have driven the faint-heart rains ahead

To hide in their soft green seas.

I have bound the plains with an iron band,

I have stricken the slow streams dumb!

To the charge of my vanguards who shall stand?

Who stay when my cohorts come?

The dust-storms follow and wrap me round;

The hot winds ride as a guard;

Before me the fret of the swamps is bound

And the way of the wild-fowl barred.

I drop the whips on the loose-flanked steers;

I burnt their necks with the bow;

And the green-hide rips and the iron sears

Where the staggering, lean beasts go.

I lure the swagman out of the road

To the gleam of a phantom lake;

I have laid him down, I have taken his load,

And he sleeps till the dead men wake.

My hurrying hoofs in the night go by,

And the great flocks bleat their fear

And follow the curve of the creeks burnt dry

And the plains scorched brown and sere.

The worn men start from their sleepless rest

With faces haggard and drawn;

They cursed the red Sun into the west

And they curse him out of the dawn.

They have carried their outposts far, far out,

But - blade of my sword for a sign! -

I am the Master, the dread King Drought,

And the great West Land is mine!

What's it about then ?

More about Ogilvie here :-

http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110076b.htm

William Henry (Will) Ogilvie (1869 - 1963),

PS Which school were you at when you learned it ?

What's it about then ?

I am the Master, the dread King Drought,

More about Ogilvie here :-

http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110076b.htm

William Henry (Will) Ogilvie (1869 - 1963),

PS Which school were you at when you learned it ?

I think I was at Mount Burr Primary School in the south east of South Australia.

Ogilvie seems to be typical of the men and women who left quiet, well educated lives in the 19th century and went to remote parts of the world for no other reason than to be part of a great adventure. Their poetry and writing is generally scorned these days but if it is lost then part of history, and much we can learn from it, is lost as well.

What's it about then ?

I am the Master, the dread King Drought,

Some kind of Hobbit then. Thought as much.

Try This one then Suiging, or perhaps sceadugenga would like to explain what it's like to live in a place where it hardly rains, CB would certainly know

The Australian Drought

by

Bernie Kyle

Oh Jeez it's dry and its no wonder why

We've had weeks and weeks without rain

I'm telling you mate, this farming's not great

In truth, it's a hel_l of a pain.

Now it needn't be said, But old Farmer Ted

Predicted what this is about

He said he'd a fear. as he cried in his Beer

That we're in for a hel_l of a drought

The Sun's burning down the fields are all brown

The stocks gone searching for shade

The Dams running low, the ground water's gone

Green grass ?? There's nary a blade.

Now there's Emu and 'Roo and damned Cockatoo

Parrots and Finches - the lot

Looking for feed and taking no heed

Of nought but Guns and lead shot.

And we've got the great need to buy in some feed

It's causing plenty of Pain

Let's hope we hold out, in Spite of the Drought

Till there's rain, rain, and more rain.

That Creek bed's gone dry, no word of a lie

What can we do to get water

Most of the stock's gone off to the works

I'm afraid there's not any quarter

But this is no prank and that Wank' from the Bank

Reminds us we are indebted

To his great big concern which continues to earn

Millions of Dollars unfettered.

But when we've lost hope and no one can cope

And we're going to be pushed off our Land

We'll ask the dear "Guv'ment" to give us some help

But don't hold your Breath .... understand ??

Now we've struggled before, in days of Yore

And there's something to learn ev'ry season

There's plenty of Woe, but we'll give it a go

The Challenge....Enough of a reason

We've Farmed all our life, in all sorts of Strife

And we've made it through thick and through Thin

But with help from our Mates - and some from Above

We'll stick it on out -- and we'll win....

.

Much more of a Dark Lord than a Hobbit suiging.

A lot of the people who were worst afflicted by drought had no business to be farming where they were Ken, that took up land in good years with little understanding of yearly climate patterns.

OK I admit I was pulling you guys collective puds. I have an aged aunt who lives in the middle of nowhere central Queensland/NSW border. In her eighties and refuses to leave her huge farm which is either being washed out one week, dried out the next.....Tough people.

Be nice to her. I'm especially nice to old rellies who own huge farms.

If anyone is running a book on where Auntie Suiging's "place'" is, I'll have 10 Bob on Cunnamulla,

I wonder if Burke & Wills wandered through her spread ?

This may sound odd, but I'll have to ask my Dad where the hel_l it is...............I'll let you know if you've won.

Mungindi?

That sounds like a curry ........ I'll have a lamb mungindi and a garlic naan.

(yes Boo, I'm going to sleep now, I just need to make myself as tired as I possibly can)

Oh .... and some chips with HP sauce.

Father arriving from UK on Monday.....First question after hello dad, will be where is your insane sister ?