Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918.

By Louis Esson

172 . The old Black Billy an’ Me

THE SHEEP are yarded, an’ I sit

Beside the fire an’ poke at it.

Far from the booze, an’ clash o’ men,

Glad, I’m glad I’m back again

On the station, wi’ me traps

An’ fencin’ wire, an’ tanks an’ taps.

Back to salt-bush plains, an’ flocks,

An’ old bark hut be th’ apple-box.

I turn the slipjack, make the tea,

All ’s as still as still can be—

An’ the old black billy winks at me.