Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A BUSH PROBLEM, by J. A. MUIRHEAD



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A BUSH PROBLEM, by                    
First Line: The price I paid for darkey? Well, I'm blowed if I can tell
Last Line: An' let me know exactly what he cost.
Subject(s): Animals; Horses; Trade


THE price I paid for Darkey? Well, I'm blowed if I can tell,
Becos' I got him dealin'; you see, boss,
I was always fond of dealin'—as a boy I'd buy or sell
With any other kid I came across.

You're a scholar; you can reckon up his figure from the start:
I bought a mare at Maffra, bay, bob-tail;
She cost me seven sovereigns and was branded with a heart
Near shoulder. Well, I rode her down to Sale

An' there I met a feller on a big upstandin' roan,
I swapped the mare for him. He didn't suit;
His owner from his back had twice that very day been thrown;
I had to give him three pounds ten to boot.

Throw me off? No, not exactly. Though he tried it for a while,
But dropped it when he found it was no go;
Then I traded for a trotter that could do a level mile
In three minutes seven seconds—that ain't slow!

But I didn't swap him level; I put a saddle down
That cost three notes—receiving thirty bob
An' a watch I raffled after—twenty members at a crown;
An' then I swapped the trotter for a cob—

A natty little chestnut, but I bartered him off quick
For a skewbald an' a gun: I let her go
For a fiery little black horse that had got a nasty trick
Of kickin' every time he got a show.

That gun was worth a fiver. I travelled round a bit
An' got another chestnut for the black,
An' a bridle worth ten shillin's; the chestnut was real grit,
A well-bred, showy model of a hack.

But I traded her for Darkey, an' a prize retriever-pup—
But travellin' down to Toora it got lost.
I got eight notes for Darkey, so, boss, reckon all that up
An' let me know exactly what he cost.





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