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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE FALLEN TREE HOTEL, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: On the lonesome line of traffic
Last Line: Of the fallen tree hotel.
Alternate Author Name(s): Prooshan, The
Subject(s): Bars & Bartenders; Drovers; Pubs; Taverns; Saloons


ON the lonesome line of traffic
Where the Tumbarumba track
Forks for Bargo, and for Taradale as well,
Where the wallabies and wombats
And the kangaroos have combats,
I once beheld the "Fallen Tree Hotel".

The owners of the hostel
Were two coachmen of the line,
Jack Galvin, and another known as "Ned",
Who bravely ploughed the highways
And the lonesome tracks and by-ways
With lots of falling timber overhead.

Now the pub was never licensed,
There were boarders never one,
No billiards and no tap-room, and for bar
There was just the muddy highway,
And the lamps hung in the skyway,
The ever-changing moon or gleaming star.

Once a mighty tree had fallen,
Was it gum? I cannot tell,
But 'twas partly burnt and hollow at the end,
And into this a frisky
Little bottle of good whisky
Was hidden well from sight, you may depend.

And twice a week 'twas empty,
And twice a week 'twas full,
Both Jack and Ned maintained the measure well,
And nightly drank and boasted
To the wallabies, and toasted
Each other at the Fallen Tree Hotel.

But alas, some drovers voted
For "reduction" and the tree—
The Fallen Tree Hotel was soon in flames;
But the language isn't printed
That could register unstinted
The record of those adjectival names

That the drivers called the drovers,
That the drovers called their luck,
That burnt a flask of whisky! But there fell
A cloud of gloom—a sadness,
And a momentary madness
Round the embers and the ashes
Of the Fallen Tree Hotel.





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