David Campbell - Up North
Oh, Bill and Joe to the north have gone, <br />A green shirt on their back; <br />There are not many ewes and lambs <br />Along Kokoda track. <br /> <br />There are not many ewes and lambs, <br />But men in single file <br />Like sheep along a mountain pad <br />Walk mile on sweating mile; <br /> <br />And each half-hour they change the lead, <br />Though I have never read <br />Where any fat bell-whether was <br />Shot, in the mountains, dead. <br /> <br />The only sheep they muster there <br />Leap through the mind at night; <br />'Twould be as red as marking time <br />To change green shirt for white. <br /> <br />And though Bill dreams of droving now <br />On the drought-coloured plain, <br />There's little need to tap the glass <br />Or pray for it to rain. <br /> <br />They have no lack of water there <br />But there is a stinging tail, <br />For men lie dying in the grass <br />Along Kokoda trail.<br /><br />David Campbell<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/up-north/
