Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A RHYME OF THE WEST, by FREDERICK WILLIAM OPHEL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A RHYME OF THE WEST, by                    
First Line: It was reuben steel that led the way, and his mate was palmer jake
Last Line: That the wandering winds might ring at will a requiem for the dead.
Alternate Author Name(s): Prospect Good; Ophel, F. W.
Subject(s): Death; Deserts; Drought; Food & Eating; Friendship; Sacrifices; Dead, The


It was Reuben Steel that led the way, and his mate was Palmer Jake;
They came from Queensland fields with the rush and scorned to stay in the wake.
The ruck they had left at the last new field where riddling shakers swung,
And their way lay out beyond man's stacks—where the primal silence hung.

They sought for the specker's paradise, where some wind-worn, broken strands
Torn from the Cloth o' Gold might lie on the bare, brown Western sands.
The trail they left was a drought-bound trail, for double a three-weeks' span,
Till they reached the mark where the mulga stopped and the spinifex began.

Then Reuben said, "We must turn again and make for the last soak passed,
For there's hardly a drink left each of us, if even the camels last."
So they turned in their tracks and the red sun blazed, fierce as a flame from
hell,
While the only sound the ridges heard was the ring of their camel bell.

Slower and slower the camels went, and the third day one dropped out;
But the gaunt old bull that carried the bell still bravely stood the drought,
Though his hollow flanks their lean tale told. Then a night that passed in haste
Made way for another blood-red dawn to flood the withering waste.

And Jake poured out the last, least drop that the water-can might hold—
A drop worth more to their parching lips than all a continent's gold—
And he drank his share, poor scanty dole, and handed the cup to his mate,
Who looked in his face a moment's space, and in looking found his fate.

For that glance had told, like a lightning flash, how Jake's strength ebbed
away,
And Reuben thought, "He'll never last through another waterless day.
I must bear this thirst to save him" and he raised the cup as he turned,
But never a drop of it passed his lips that blistered, cracked and burned.

And as Jake with slow steps journeyed on, Rube poured it back in the can—
As brave a deed as man could do for the sake of a fellow-man.
And all the day so sad and slow and weakened with thirst they passed
And Rube in his rude way almost prayed that his mate at least might last.

And again night passed and again the morn broadened to burning day:
The gaunt bull-camel was done at last—his bones would bleach where he lay.
And Rube was done, but his hero's heart gave strength for his last brave deed,
And he wrote on the sand, with feeble hand, his testament and creed.

"A drink in the canteen. Make for the soak. God send it has not dried."
Then his last deed done, by the dead beast's side he laid him down and died.
And the passing band who rescued Jake, ere that noon to night gave place,
Found him there in the grey bush solitude, a smile of peace on his face.

And they made him a place 'neath a stunted gum, blasted even as he;
And left him to drink from Lethean streams for all eternity.
But the bell they took from the camel's neck they hung above his head
That the wandering winds might ring at will a requiem for the dead.





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