[Editor: This notation by Marie E. J. Pitt was published in The Horses of the Hills and Other Verses (1911).]
Acknowledgment
In publishing this little book I must thank many people, among them the proprietors of the “Bulletin,” (Sydney, Australia), the Melbourne “Herald,” the “Southern Sphere” (Melbourne), “Heart o’ the Rose” (Melbourne), “Steele Rudd’s Magazine,” (Brisbane and Sydney), “Clarion” (Melbourne), “Socialist” (Melbourne), “Clipper” (Hobart), “Labour Call,” (Melbourne), and “High Light,” (Adelaide, S. Australia), for permission to reprint; also Messrs. Bernard O’Dowd, Arthur Long (President of Trades Hall Council), R. S. Ross (Editor of “Maoriland Worker”) and the Hon. J. P. Jones, M.L.C., who, as a committee, successfully launched the publication; and last, but not least, the little group of Tasmanian editors and others who gave me my first encouragement, and helped to steady my stumbling footsteps on the slippery Inky Way.
With something of an apology, and more than a regret for inequalities and inconsistencies, inevitable and inseparable from hasty execution amid a more than usually hostile environment, I send forth these songs of a wilding Australian harp.
Marie E. J. Pitt.
Melbourne, 20th May, 1911.
Who finds the track, who follows the track,
Must measure him steel for steel,
With the sword of flame ’gainst the road he came,
And the fang’d head under his heel.
* * * *
Who hears the song, who answers the song,
Must fight for his faith afar,
Where they tramp to the goal of the outlaw soul
By the light of a vagrant star.
Source:
Marie E. J. Pitt, The Horses of the Hills and Other Verses, Melbourne: Specialty Press, 1911, pages 5-6
The Institute of Australian Culture
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