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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE GULLY: 4 by FRANK WILMOT

First Line: THE WILD-EYED TEAM WITH HORNED AND SWAYING HEADS
Last Line: IN DEATH THE WHIP LIES IN HIS SUNBURNT HANDS.

The wild-eyed team with horned and swaying heads
Goes past; the teamster waves his glad 'Good-day.'
There's load on load of timber at the sheds
And still he would not care to come my way.

While miracles of bush-flowers burst and move
About him, these he will not turn to share.
Yet, like a child eager for things to love
He's hungry to be told what things are fair.

Within him there's a spirit careless, free;
Slow to condemn he is and slow to praise,
Profuse in grumbling generosity,
And drenched at heart with the light of burning days.

And there he strides with all this on his head,
Bawling through dust his blasphemous commands;
The team's his life; he's mountain born and bred;
In death the whip lies in his sunburnt hands.



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