Olde Charlie Part Two

OLDE CHARLIE part two A simple g’day and not much more, A man of simple tastes and trends, Mostly seen most days Three days growth on chin, Olde Charlie, Came from the olde school, Of the way he thought And reacted to most things, A man of the bush, A man with a down to earth spirit, Not caring much for town A product of the bush, A cockie from a bygone age And from the land as fourth generation lived On a piece of squatter dirt chosen, ‘neath the hills of blueish haze, Old Charlie had seen All manner of things, From flooding of plains to the west, Bushfires that came close near the bottom paddock fence, Of dry days that gave way to cloudless blues And not a skerrick dropped to fill troughs, For his beloved Droughtmasters to taste. Olde Charlie and best mate ‘Blue’ And at the crack of dawn this day A brew and a bone began, Then on the track that wound to back paddocks up top, A mother and calf gone missing Strayed from herd in paddock distance far from home, Heard in distance dingo’s cry sent shudders, For olde Charlie knew of their ways, And in this time of parched earth being felt, A tasty prey could be Tucker for this native dog, Who on instincts needs to survive hunger pangs, And if Olde Charlie’s mother and calf succumbed To be a dingo’s dietary supplement this day, So be it, But Olde Charlie he knew of better things, And of a mother who’d protect her progeny most When it came to the crunch, And on a rise straight ahead Olde Charlie saw Why Olde Blue had raced ahead, A calf crying for mum, As mother and indigenous dog had drawn together And both now lay inert in dirt, And in the ways of the bush wisdom A bullet to each was suffice to the sacrifice of mum, And with tenderness not usual of tough man of land, A calf carried all the way And back to the herd the future now saved. A simple g’day and not much more, A man of simple tastes and trends Olde Charlie’s a true rough diamond of Oz. Francis Cooper – Mac © 18 Jul. 20