Vonda Stanley's collection of early Australian bush poems

THE OLD BLACK BILLY AN’ ME 

The sheep are yarded, an’ I sit

Beside the fire an’ poke at it.

Far from talk an’ booze o’ men

Glad, I’m glad I’m back agen

On the station, wi’ me traps

An’ fencin’ wire, an’ tanks an’ taps,

Back to salt-bush plains, an’ flocks,

An’ old bark hut be the apple-box.

I turn the slipjack, make the tea,

All’s as still as still can be -

An’ the old black billy winks at me.

 Louis Esson