Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MAD JACK'S COCKATOO, by WILLIAN RYLAND


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MAD JACK'S COCKATOO, by                    
First Line: There's a man that went out in the floodtime and drought
Last Line: Was his track-mate—the old cockatoo.
Alternate Author Name(s): Bushie Bill
Subject(s): Birds; Death; Drinks & Drinking; Grief; Dead, The; Wine; Sorrow; Sadness


THERE'S a man that went out in the floodtime and drought,
By the banks of the outer Barcoo,
And they called him Mad Jack 'cause the swag on his back
Was the perch for an old cockatoo.

By the towns near and far, in shed, shanty and bar
Came the yarns of Mad Jack and his bird,
And this tale I relate (it was told by a mate)
Is just one of the many I've heard.

Now Jack was a bloke who could drink, holy smoke,
He could swig twenty mugs to my ten,
And that old cockatoo, it could sink quite a few,
And it drank with the rest of the men.

One day when the heat was a thing hard to beat,
Mad Jack and his old cockatoo
Came in from the West—at the old Swagman's Rest
Jack ordered the schooners for two.

And when these had gone down he forked out half a crown,
And they drank till the money was spent,
Then Jack pulled out a note from his old tattered coat
And between them they drank every cent.

Then that old cockatoo, it swore red, black and blue,
And it knocked all the mugs off the bar,
Then it flew through the air, and it pulled at the hair
Of a bloke who was drinking Three Star.

And it jerked out the pegs from the barrels and kegs,
Knocked the bottles all down from the shelf,
With a sound like a cheer it dived into the beer,
And it finished up drowning itself.

When at last Mad Jack woke from his sleep he ne'er spoke,
But he cried like a lost husband's wife,
And each quick falling tear made a flood with the beer,
And the men had to swim for their life.

Then Mad Jack he did drown; when the waters went down
He was lying there stiffened and blue,
And it's told far and wide that stretched out by his side
Was his track-mate—the old cockatoo.





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