He Mourned His Master

INTRODUCTION     The theme is ancient as the hills,     With all their prehistoric glory;     But yet of Corney and his friend,     Weve often longed to tell the story;     And should we jar the readers ear,     Or fail to please his eye observant,     We only trust that hell forgive     The bush muse and, your humble servant. THE STORY     Old Corney built in Deadmans Gap     A hut, where mountain shades grow denser,     And there he lived for many years,     A timber-getter and a fencer.     And no one knew if hed a soul     Above long sprees, or split-rail fences,     Unless, indeed, it was his friend,     Who always kept his confidences.     There was a saw-pit in the range;     Twas owned by three, and they were brothers,     And visitors to Corneys hut,     Twas seldom visited by others.     They came because, as they averred,     Old Corney licked, a gent infernal.     His yarns, if I might trust their word,     Would made the fortune of a journal.     In short, the splitter was a cure,     Who brightened up their lives dull courses;     And so on Sunday afternoons,     At Corneys hut theyd hang their horses.     Theyd have a game of cards and smoke,     And sometimes sing, which was a rum thing,     Unless, in spite of legal folk,     The splitter kept a drop of something.     If, as twas said, he was a swell     Before he sought these sombre ranges,     Twixt mothers arms and coffin gear     He must have seen a world of changes.     But from his lips would never fall     A hint of home, or friends, or brothers;     And if he told his tale at all,     He must have told it as anothers.     Though he was good at telling yarns,     At listening he excelled not less so,     And greatly helped the bushmans tales     With yes, exactly so, or jes so.     In short, the hut became a club     Like our Assembly Legislative,     Combining smokeroom, hall, and pub,     Political and recreative.     Old Corney lived and Corney died,     As we will, too, on some to-morrow,     But not as Corney died, we hope,     Of heart disease, and rum, and sorrow.     (We hope to lead a married life,     At times the cup of comfort quaffing;     And when we leave this world of strife     We trust that we may die of laughing.)     One New Years Eve they found him dead,     For rum had made his life unstable,     They found him stretched upon his bed,     And also found, upon the table,     The coloured portrait of a girl,     Blue eyes of course. The hair was golden,     A faded letter and a curl,     And, well, we said the theme was olden.     The splitter had for days been dead     And cold before the sawyers found him,     And none had witnessed how he died     Except the friend who whimpered round him;     A noble friend, and of a kind     Who stay when other friends forsake us;     And he at last was left behind     To greet the rough bush undertakers.     This was a season when the bush     Was somewhat ruled by time and distance,     And bushmen came and tried the world,     And gave it best without assistance.     Then one might die of heart disease,     And still be spared the inquest horrors.     And when the splitter lay at ease,     So, also, did his sins and sorrows.     Ole Coreys dead, the bushmen said;     Hes gone at last, an neer a blunder.     And so they brought a horse and dray,     And tools to tuck the old cove under.     The funeral wended through the range,     And slowly round its rugged corners;     The reader will not think it strange     That Corneys friend was chief of mourners.     He must have thought the bushmen hard,     And of his misery unheeding,     Because they shunned his anxious eyes,     That seemed for explanation pleading.     At intervals his tongue would wipe     The jaws that seemed with anguish quaking;     As some strong hand impatiently     Might chide the tears for prison breaking.     They reached by rugged ways at last,     A desolate bush cemetery,     Where now (our tale is of the past),     A thriving town its dead doth bury.     And where the bones of pioneers     Are found and thrown aside unheeded,     For later sleepers, blessed with tears     Of many friends, the graves are needed.     The funeral reached the bushmens graves,     Where these old pioneers were sleeping,     And now while down the granite ridge     The shadow of the peak was creeping,     They dug a grave beneath a gum     And lowered the dead as gently may be     As Corneys mother long before     Had laid him down to hush-a-baby.     A bushman read the words to which     The others reverently listened,     Some bearded lips were seen to twitch,     Some shaded eyes with moisture glistened.     Perhaps this weakness was because     Their work reminded them in sorrow     Of other burials long ago,     When friends turned in to wait the morrow.     The boys had brought the splitters tools,     And now they split and put together     Four panels such as Corney made,     To stand the stress of western weather.     Perhaps this second weakness rose,     From some good reason undetected;     They may have thought of other graves     Of dearer friends they left neglected.     Old Corneys dead, he paid his bills     (These words upon the tree were graven)     And oft a swagman down in luck,     At Coreys mansion found a haven.     If this an explanation needs,     We greatly fear we cant afford it;     Unless they thought of other dead,     Whose virtues they had not recorded.     The day had crossed the homeward track,     And as the bushmen turned to tread it,     They thought and spoke of many things,     Remembered now to Corneys credit;     And strange to say, above their heads     The kookaburra burst with laughter.     (Perhaps he thought of other friends     Whose virtues they remembered, after.)     But now the bushmen hurried on     Lest darkness in the range should find them;     And strange to say they never saw     That Corneys friend had stayed behind them.     If one had thrown a backward glance     Along the rugged path they wended,     He might have seen a darker form     Upon the damp cold mound extended.     But soon their forms had vanished all,     And night came down the ranges faster,     And no one saw the shadows fall     Upon the dog that mourned his master.