Explore "In the Droving Days" by Andrew Barton Paterson on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
'Only a pound,' said the auctioneer, / 'Only a pound; and I'm standing here / Selling this animal, gain or loss. / Only a pound for the drover's horse; / One of the sort that was never afraid, / One of the boys of the Old Brigade; / Thoroughly honest and game, I'll swear, / Only a little the worse for wear; / Plenty as bad to be seen in town, / Give me a bid and I'll knock him down; / Sold as he stands, and without recourse, / Give me a bid for the drover's horse.'
Loitering there in an aimless way / Somehow I noticed the poor old grey, / Weary and battered and screwed, of course, / Yet when I noticed the old grey horse, / The rough bush saddle, and single rein / Of the bridle laid on his tangled mane, / Straightway the crowd and the auctioneer / Seemed on a sudden to disappear, / Melted away in a kind of haze, / For my heart went back to the droving days.