Lake Eliza

The sand was heavy on our feet,     A Christmas sky was oer us,     And half a mile through dust and heat     Lake Liza lay before us.     Youll have a long and heavy tramp,     So said the last adviser,     You cant do better than to camp     To-night at Lake Eliza.     We quite forgot our aching shanks,     A cheerful spirit caught us;     We thought of green and shady banks,     We thought of pleasant waters.     Neath sky as niggard of its rain     As of his gold the miser,     By mulga scrub and lignum plain     Wed trampd to Lake Eliza.     A patch to grey discoloured sand,     A fringe of tufty grasses,     A lonely pub in mulga scrub     Is all the stranger passes.     Hed pass the Lake a dozen times     And yet be none the wiser;     I hope that I shall never be     As dry as Lake Eliza.     No patch of green or water seen     To cheer the weary plodder;     The grass is tough as fencing-wire,     And just as good for fodder.     And when I see it mentioned in     Some local ADVERTISER,     Twill make me laugh, or make me grin,     The name of Lake Eliza.