Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE GRASS STEALERS, by J. MURRAY ALLISON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE GRASS STEALERS, by                    
First Line: In australia where the cattle tracks
Last Line: Or some other watercourse.
Subject(s): Cattle; Drovers; Grass


IN Australia where the cattle tracks
Are two miles wide,
And run from northern Queensland
To the Great Divide,
The drover and the shearer
And the rouseabouts, alas!
They wouldn't steal a penny,
But they all steal grass.

For the neddies never wander
If the going's good and sweet,
But stick around the fire
With the hobbles on their feet.
So Alf and Bill and Bendigo
And Harry of the Pass,
They wouldn't steal a copper,
But they all steal grass.

When the Overlanders gather
In the wide and dusty plain,
When tomorrow's never mentioned,
And they never speak of rain,
When the blazing sun is setting
Like a disc of shining brass,
They wouldn't steal a copper,
But they all steal grass.

They steal it from the squatter;
They steal it from his run.
They steal it from the cocky
And think it mighty fun.
They steal it from each other,
And nothing can surpass
The methods of the travellers
Who all steal grass.

It's sundown on the Darling,
There's water in the bend,
But not a blade of forage
Where the cattle musters end.

And let the horses pass!
So it's nip the squatter's wire
They'll take the track tomorrow
With their bellies full of grass.

Now stealing grass for horses
May be a horrid crime,
Especially to the squatter
With his paddocks lush and prime;
But a man who wouldn't steal
A bit of grass to feed his horse
Should be flung into the Darling
Or some other watercourse.





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