Ode to Banjo

I’ve always wanted to write poetry just like ‘Banjo’ Paterson,

But I’ve neither had the intelligence or the wit.

Words flow from my mouth more easily than my pen,

And I’m often taken by many for a twit.

Banjo wrote of sheep and stockmen, and Clancy of the Overflow;

And characters you found along the track.

He made the past romantic, with somewhat of a lure

And I’ve often wished that I could travel back.

He had a sense of perception not common in our time

Though it was more usual in his day.

He could make you cry with a verse but when you turned the page

His prose would have you laughing all the way.

I could never hope for the skill or even for the wit

To write my verse with Banjo’s kind of flair

For history was his canvas; for colours he used words

And his “paintings” shine with a stately kind of air.

MDC

April ’81