Guest poem submitted by Frank O'Shea :
(Poem #1557) Now I'm Easy For nearly sixty years I've been a cockie* Of droughts and fires and floods I've lived through plenty This country's dust and mud have seen my tears and blood But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy I married a fine girl when I was twenty She died in giving birth when she was thirty No flying doctor then just a gentle old black gen* But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy She left me with two sons and a daughter And a bone dry farm whose soil cried out for water Though me care was rough and ready, they grew up fine and steady But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy Me daughter married young and went her own way Me sons lie buried by the Burma railway* So on this land I've made me home, I've carried on alone But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy Oh, city folks these days despise the cockie Saying with subsidies and dole we've had it easy But there's no drought or starving stock on the sewered suburban block But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy For nearly sixty years I've been a cockie Of droughts and fires and floods I've lived through plenty This country's dust and mud have seen my tears and blood But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy But it's nearly over now and now I'm easy |
[Commentary] I agree with the comments of Aseem Kaul that the words of songs can be poetry. I dare you read today's poem without a lump in your throat. It was written by Eric Bogle, who already features in your list for "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda". He has written some marvellous lyrics - "The Green Fields of France", "The Leaving of Nancy", "The Diamantina Drover", "Singing the Spirit Home". [Notes] cockie: Australian term for a farmer, usually small farmer. Often used pejoratively. Abbreviated from cockatoo, for some reason that escapes me. gen: Aboriginal woman. A term used affectionately, I think. Burma railway: hundreds of Australian servicemen lost their lives constructing it as POWs during the War. Frank.
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