Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SOLITUDE, by WILLIAM HENRY OGILVIE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SOLITUDE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: As we drove one day through the lignum swamp
Last Line: Is the old grey solitude.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ogilvie, Will Henry
Subject(s): Animals; Horse Racing; Horses


As we drove one day through the lignum swamp
where the spelling horses ran,
A loose horse broke from the noonday camp
And trotted beside our van.

We knew him then as a favourite steed,
A beautiful dappled dream,
The grey that went in the near-side lead
In the Boss's showyard team.

He swung in front of our station pair
And kept in the near-side place,
And trotted on with his beauty bare
Of bridle or rein or trace.

He led them away on the Woolshed track
As a harnessed leader would,
And we had not the heart to turn him back—
The old grey Solitude.

He slowed and stood at the paddock gate,
Then guided the others through,
And whinnied once for his absent mate,
Then took up his task anew.

He was the pick of the four good greys
That had won three Cups in Bourke;
His poise in the ring was past all praise,
And his pluck on the road at work.

He held his place to a measured inch,
Left room for his swingle-bar,
And quickened pace at the sandhill pinch
And slowed where the deep ruts are.

So he showed the way to the Five-mile tank
With never a trace or tie,
Lifting his feet with a showyard swank
And his lean grey head held high.

And whenever I think of the brave bush teams
And their leaders staunch and good,
The horse of them all that haunts my dreams
Is the old grey Solitude.





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