Saturday, 30 May 2020

Whatever happens to an Old Time Drover




Always wanted to be a drover (Jackaroo) from way back when I was a boy. I even wrote a letter to Dalgety's in SA when I was 15 seeking a possible position on a Cattle Station when I left school, unfortunately I never received a reply, and hence my life took a different direction on leaving school and the opportunity never arose again. Still never stopped admiring the cattlemen out west, infatuated with all the stories that came to hand over the years, an amazing bunch of immortals to me.










 “WHATEVER HAPPENS TO AN OLD TIME DROVER”




Whatever happens to an old time drover?
When his light begins to fade…
Whatever happens to an old time drover?
And the life that he has made…
Will he continue to push?
A mob through the bush,
And run the rogue till it’s standin still,
Will he camp beside the creek?
Where the waters forever sweet…
And watch the moon arise o’er top of the hill,
Will he recall that night on the track
Out beyond the outback
When the rain began to feed the soil,
How he pushed on through the flood
That swamped the mallee scrub,
With just a bob and his keep for the toil,
Will he remember the time?
Way back in thirty nine,
When the Great War took him away overseas,
Where he was given a gun
And told to charge on the run,
And forget his mates…pleading for help on their knees.
Will he roll up his swag and forever be sad
When he reflects where it all begun…
Will he feel full of remorse?
When he unsaddles his horse…
Whistles his dog, and turns his back on the sun.
See you later cobber”
As he shoulders his clobber,
And heads east to the coast to retire…
But will he make the train,
Or will his mind he change
And turn about and rejoin his mates by the fire.
Yes, whatever happens to an old time drover?
When his light begins to fade…
Whatever happens to an old time drover…
And the life… that he has made.



Darrell B Parker
Weaver of words and emotions
2010.








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