Trouble on the Selection [poem by Henry Lawson]

[Editor: This poem by Henry Lawson was published in Short Stories in Prose and Verse (1894) and Verses Popular and Humorous (1900).]

Trouble on the Selection.

You lazy boy, you’re here at last,
You must be wooden-legged;
Now, are you sure the gate is fast
And all the sliprails pegged?
And all the milkers at the yard,
The calves all in the pen?
We don’t want Poley’s calf to suck
His mother dry again.

And did you mend the broken rail
And make it firm and neat?
I s’pose you want that brindle steer
All night among the wheat.
And if he finds the lucerne patch,
He’ll stuff his belly full
He’ll eat till he gets “blown” on that
And bust like Ryan’s bull.

Old Spot is lost? You’ll drive me mad,
You will, upon my soul!
She might be in the boggy swamps
Or down a digger’s hole.
You needn’t talk, you never looked;
You’d find her if you’d choose,
Instead of poking ’possum logs
And hunting kangaroos.

How came your boots as wet as muck?
You tried to drown the ants!
Why don’t you take your bluchers off,
Good Lord, he’s tore his pants!
Your father’s coming home to-night;
You’ll catch it hot, you’ll see.
Now go and wash your filthy face
And come and get your tea.

Source:
Henry Lawson. Short Stories in Prose and Verse, L. Lawson, Sydney, [1894], pages 93-94

Also published in:
Henry Lawson. Verses Popular and Humorous, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1900, pages 220-221

[Editor: Corrected “pocking” to “poking” (confirmed with reference to Verses Popular and Humorous, page 221).]