Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BLANKET NED, by G. A. H.


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BLANKET NED, by                    
First Line: We were shearing on the bidgee
Last Line: The lamb in the water-pot.
Subject(s): Fools; Labor & Laborers; Sheep; Idiots; Work; Workers


WE were shearing on the 'Bidgee—
'Twas the blades we wielded then—
And the sheep they were the roughest
In the memory of men.

Rough, horny, wrinkly devils,
'Twas hard to pick the worst—
The cobbler in the catching pen
Was like unto the first.

We cursed and shore like shearers,
And the atmosphere was blue,
When Blanket Ned set racing
To catch young Jimmy Drew.

Old Blanket Ned, the hatter,
Was a cocky long ago,
Till the drought had come upon him
And his holding had to go.

Just a hairy, ratty joker
In an old white-tilted cart—
And the men were scarce that season
So the boss had let him start.

He produced no references,
But he said that in the past
He had always shorn his killers;
So you'll guess Ned wasn't fast.

Still he poked and punched and sniggled
And the boys with one accord
Said his energy was equal
To the ringers down the board.

When the rams were in for shearing
Old Ned got on the go
And wrestled round the catching-pen
For half an hour or so.

Then he shore around the wrinkles
Through the after-breakfast run,
And smoko saw him getting round
To where he'd first begun.

The run that brought the dinner hour
Was almost gone, and Ned,
Who'd laid the ram along the floor,
Was sitting on its head,

And shearing down around the tail,
When suddenly the brute
Placed both hoofs on his brisket
And kicked him through the shute.

Young Jimmy Drew, his pen-mate,
Was a learner green as well,
And they raced and raced each other
From the morn till evening bell.

When the lambs we started shearing
There was joy in Blanket Ned
And he went on racing Jimmy
Till he fairly lost his head.

Well, in one run Ned shore seven,
And the ringer thirty-two;
Still that run brought Ned his heaven
For he'd beaten Jimmy Drew.

For up till now young Jimmy
With purpose firm and grim
Had kept, with aching body,
A sheep ahead of him.

The bell rang after smoko:
With victory flushed, old Ned,
As I've already mentioned
Went fairly off his head.

He grabbed a lamb and shore it,
Then threw (he knew it not)
His shears out through the port-hole,
The lamb in the water-pot.





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