Memories of Christmas Day

 to all my family, friends, and readers of my Blog, and may 2020 bring you all the wonderful blessings of a good life.

MEMORIES OF CHRISTMAS DAY

CHRISTMAS TO US ALL

COMES BUT ONE DAY OF THE YEAR,

A DAY TO SPEND WITH FAMILY

AND TO ENJOY A DAY OF CHEER,

BUT TO SOME THEIR FAMILY

ARE MANY MILES AWAY,

SO THEY ONLY HAVE THEIR MEMORIES

TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS DAY.

FROM THE PAST THESE MEMORIES

FLOW BACK INTO OUR MINDS,

OF THOSE EARLY CHRISTMAS DAYS

AND OF THOSE JOYOUS TIMES,

WHEN SANTA FILLED THE PILLOW CASE

HANGING LOOSELY FROM THE BED,

WITH A CRICKET BAT, A FOOTBALL,

OR A BARBIE DRESSED IN RED.

GATHERING ROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE

WE ADMIRE SANTA'S’ WARES,

WHILE MOTHERS IN THE KITCHEN

PREPARING OUR CHRISTMAS FARE,

A SLICE OF HAM, A CHICKEN LEG,

A CRISPY SPUD OR TWO,

WHILE DAD SPENDS CHRISTMAS DAY

SIPPING ON A HOME MADE BREW.

THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE TEST

SO WE ADJOURN INTO THE YARD,

THE SUMMER HAS BEEN HOT AND DRY

SO THE PITCH IS FAST AND HARD,

WITH THE BALL I’M DENNIS LILLIE,

I’M DOUG WALTERS WITH THE BAT,

BUT THIS IS ONLY PRACTICE

FOR WHEN I DON THAT BAGGY CAP.

YES, CHRISTMAS TO US ALL

COMES BUT ONE DAY OF THE YEAR,

A DAY TO SPEND WITH FAMILY

AND ENJOY A DAY OF CHEER,

BUT TO SOME THEIR FAMILY

ARE MANY MILES AWAY,

SO THEY ONLY HAVE THEIR MEMORIES.....

TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS DAY.

DARRELL B. PARKER 

Weaver of words and emotions

Wallaby Bob the Mongrel dog

Hello again my friends, here I am once again with a story to tell, this time about an Legend, only this time , a four legged legend. I am sure after reading this amazing story you will all be so proud of Wallaby Bob the Mongrel Dog...a legend in his own lifetime.

Enjoy the read and look forward to posting again soon. Dazza.

WALLABY BOB THE MONGREL DOG

NOW BACK IN THE EARLY DAYS

WHEN BOB WAS BUT A PUP

OLD JACK THE DROVER

THOUGHT AT LAST HE WAS IN LUCK

ALL HIS LIFE HE’D BEEN A DROVIN

AND HE’D HAD A DOG OR TWO

BUT NONE TO MATCH THE KEENNESS

OF HIS MONGREL PUP…..FROM UP KALANGADOO.

YEAH – OLD JACK WAS A HIGHLANDS DROVER

SO HE NEEDED A SPECIAL BREED OF DOG

ONE THAT COULD SKIRT THE BROADEST TREE

AND JUMP OVER THE BIGGEST LOG

ONE THAT COULD SWIM A MOUNTAIN STREAM

AND CLIMB THOSE ROCKY PEAKS

AND IF EVER CALLED UPON…..

ROUND UP A FLOCK OF SHEEP.

SO THE DAY ARRIVED WHEN OLD JACK

DECIDED TO PUT HIS MONGREL INTO WORK

BOB WAS AT THE SIT BESIDE OLD BESS

WHEN HIS NOSE BEGAN TO JERK

HE PRICKED HIS EARS AND LICKED HIS JOWLS

THEN RACED OFF TO CHASE A ROO

JACK COULD HEAR HIM IN THE SCRUB

BUT THERE WAS NOTHING HE COULD DO.

NOW JACK SAT TALL IN THE SADDLE

AND WENT SEARCHING FAR AND WIDE

HE SCOURED THE MOUNTAIN FORESTS

AND AROUND THE LAKE HE DID RIDE

THE DAYS THEY TURNED INTO WEEKS

AS HE CROSSED THE HORIZON SEEKING SOME SIGN

OFTEN HE THOUGHT HE HEARD HIS BARK

BUT HIS MONGREL DOG HE COULD NOT FIN

SUMMER HAD QUIETLY PASSED ON BY

ANOTHER WINTER WAS LOOMING LARGE

JACK AND BESS HAD DONE THE DROVIN

THE HIGHLAND SHEEP WERE IN THE YARD

JACKS ELBOW RESTED ON THE BAR

HE WAS STILL LAMENTING THE LOSS OF BOB

WHEN FROM OUTSIDE CAME THE CRY –

“LOOKEE THERE, ITS OLD JACKS MONGREL DOG! “

YES, THERE WAS BOB THE MONGREL DOG

LIMPING – BUT PROUDLY IN BEHIND

THE BIGGEST MOB OF WALLABY

THAT ONE COULD EVER FIND

HE’D RUN EM DOWN THE MOUNTAIN

THEN SWUM EM STRAIGHT ACROSS THE LAKE

SUCH WAS HIS DROVIN SKILLS

NOT ONE WALLABY MADE A BREAK.

JACK SMILED WHEN HE OPENED UP THE GATE

AND LET THE MOB INTO THE YARD

BUT WHAT WOULD HE DO WITH A THOUSAND ROO

HE’D HAVE TO THINK REAL HARD

AND NOW THE LEGEND OF THIS DROVERS DOG

IS LEFT TO BE TOLD IN VERSE AND SONG

FOR WHEN JACK CLOSED THE GATE AND TURNED AROUND

WALLABY BOB HIS MONGREL DOG – WAS WELL AND TRULY GONE!

DARRELL B. PARKER

Weaver of words and emotions

In from the Outback

Hi all,

just been sitting here with lots of thoughts going around in my head when I had this urge to write something.

I looked up at a picture hanging on the wall depicting a country scene, a stockman driving a herd of cattle across a river and into the vast aussie plains, the following is the result of that inspiration.

Gee I hope you like it, I sort of had a few tears when I read it back, I really had myself in the picture.

Hope you are having as good a day as I am, yes, that's right, it's good to be alive!!

Cheers.  dazza

In From The Outback

I’ve just come in from the Outback

Where the land is stubble bare

Nothing more than open cracks

Forced wider under the summer glare,

Where lonely clumps of Mallee

Wind their way along a rim,

Where many moons gone before

A waterhole… lay pristine to the brim.

One can rest upon a craggy ridge

And gaze the horizon to the west,

And watch the fiery ball retire

Without the hint of any protest,

Boil the billy without a permit signed

And unroll a swag upon a gravel bed,

And wait for the golden dawning

With a star filled galaxy… overhead.

I had no yearning to return…

To a city so cold and dispassionate,

To be locked away within walls of glass

To walk the streets fearing combat,

But the time had come to rekindle ties

With a family… so distant for so long,

Yes, a man needs to know what he had left behind

Will never forget... where they’d come from.

But soon the call of the Outback beckoned

Knocking urgently at the door of my heart,

I rolled my swag and said goodbye

I was now time for me to depart,

So I closed the gate and I strode away

Leaving many tears of despair behind,

Yes, the call of the outback proved once again…

It is there that my life is resigned.

So here I am… back with my lot

Not much… but Ne’re a regret,

I have no need for the gold of fools

Nor the use of a political alphabet,

I have my cobbers, my horse and my dog,

That’s all I need to survive…

Yes, it’s here in the Outback of this our great land…

That my heart and my soul… did derive.

Darrell B Parker

Weaver of words and emotions