Classic Poem

He loved a girl when his hair was brown,
And his heart was young and tender,
And she took him up and she took him down,
So he's got no time for that gender.
He's a " whaler " now with a patched-up boat
By a Murrumbidgee station,
With an old he-dog and a William-goat
And a cat of the Thomas persuasion.

There's a Nanny-goat's skin with the head and horns
On a gum-tree tall and shady;
And hair like a long-lost gin's that warns
The native dusky lady.
There's the skin of a female dog as well,
And, nailed up a little bit higher,
The skin and tail of a tortoise-shell
They used to call Maria.

There is also a tale with the station gins,
Who are scarcely ornamental,
Of a shot-gun charged with the coarsest salt,
That " went off accidental. "
So he lives in peace, with his patched-up boat,
By that Murrumbidgee station —
And his old he-dog and his William-goat
And his cat of the Thomas persuasion.