Your Trusty Old Tent

ABPA Financial members can post their Bush Poetry here ...
All Forum Visitors can view but only Financial ABPA Members can post and reply.
Post Reply
User avatar
Stephen Whiteside
Posts: 3784
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 1:07 pm
Contact:

Your Trusty Old Tent

Post by Stephen Whiteside » Wed Feb 07, 2018 4:23 pm

Your Trusty Old Tent

When your mind is a mess and your back, it is bent,
And your heart’s full of hurt, and your spirit is spent,
And you can’t work out where all your energy went,
It is time to head bush with your trusty old tent!


For the sounds of the forest will quickly revive
Your sorry sad soul. You will feel so alive
When the chirpings and rustles and cries reach your ear.
They will heal your hurt heart, they will banish your fear.

You will sleep with the sunset and rise with the dawn,
Just as Man did when Mankind was first born,
Or perhaps as you finish your evening meal,
An hour of the dark with a lantern you’ll steal.

You will gaze at the stars while you’re hid from the sun.
You will drift through its void till you sense you are one
With the great mighty cosmos that sprawls all around.
Where once you felt lost, you will feel you are found.

Then, when you awake, all the Earth will feel new,
Under its layer of fresh morning dew.
The sound of the birdsong will gladden your heart
As it tells the sweet world of another day’s start.

You’ll fill up your billy and bring it to boil,
At one with the clouds and the trees and the soil,
At one with the wombats and lizards and ‘roos…
With your trusty old tent, there’s no way you can lose.

Now, there always are cynics, who stoutly maintain
That your trusty old tent, in the wind and the rain,
Becomes much less trusty, and might let you down,
And lead you to shiver, and even to drown.

They argue four walls and a stoutly set roof
Are always the best, and they offer as proof
Occasional storms, when your tent pools are bent,
And they poke through the roof of your trusty old tent.

Well, it can’t be denied that there are sometimes times
When your trusty old tent commits horrible crimes;
When your trusty old tent doesn’t do what you need
It to do, and doubt comes with its tough little seed.

But let me remind you that four solid walls
Won’t fit in your backpack when yonder ridge calls;
With their likely provision of power and light,
Won’t lead you to gaze at the stars in the night;

That four solid walls lead to staying up late,
And sleeping late, too, so you won’t keep your date
With the birds as they sing in the hour before dawn,
And will mould you in time as technology’s pawn.

So, in spite of those times (and, in truth, they are few)
When your tent leaves you stuck in a fairly firm stew,
I would say it quite clearly, and make it quite plain
By repeating my formerly quoted refrain:

When your mind is a mess and your back, it is bent,
And your heart’s full of hurt, and your spirit is spent,
And you can’t work out where all your energy went,
It is time to head bush with your trusty old tent!


© Stephen Whiteside 07.02.2018
Last edited by Stephen Whiteside on Sat Feb 10, 2018 8:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
Stephen Whiteside, Australian Poet and Writer
http://www.stephenwhiteside.com.au

User avatar
Shelley Hansen
Posts: 2224
Joined: Sun May 04, 2014 5:39 pm
Location: Maryborough, Queensland
Contact:

Re: Your Trusty Old Tent

Post by Shelley Hansen » Thu Feb 08, 2018 8:32 pm

Just love it, Stephen!

As we are at present enjoying a short break within the four solid walls of our trusty caravan, I don’t think I’ll be able to resist the opportunity to pen a poetic reply ... so watch this space!!

Cheers
Shelley
Shelley Hansen
Lady of Lines
http://www.shelleyhansen.com

"Look fer yer profits in the 'earts o' friends,
fer 'atin' never paid no dividends."
(CJ Dennis "The Mooch o' Life")

User avatar
Stephen Whiteside
Posts: 3784
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 1:07 pm
Contact:

Re: Your Trusty Old Tent

Post by Stephen Whiteside » Thu Feb 08, 2018 8:34 pm

Looking forward to it...
Stephen Whiteside, Australian Poet and Writer
http://www.stephenwhiteside.com.au

vwalla
Posts: 160
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2010 10:44 am

Re: Your Trusty Old Tent

Post by vwalla » Fri Feb 09, 2018 9:12 am

Stephen.
Thanks but no thanks!
I am afraid my camping days are over and even though I would have wholeheartedly shared your sentiments way back then, I have to say these days your Photos speak to me much louder and more convincing than your eloquent words :twisted:

Cheers
Val W

User avatar
Shelley Hansen
Posts: 2224
Joined: Sun May 04, 2014 5:39 pm
Location: Maryborough, Queensland
Contact:

Re: Your Trusty Old Tent

Post by Shelley Hansen » Fri Feb 09, 2018 4:46 pm

Hi Stephen

Well, your poem certainly stirred up the little grey cells! I didn’t want to steal your thread with my reply, so I’ve posted it under a new thread “Random Recollections (in reply to ‘Your Trusty Old Tent’)”.

What a shame we don’t have the Bulletin any more ... you and I could reinvent the debate! :lol:

Cheers Banjo old son!
Henry
Shelley Hansen
Lady of Lines
http://www.shelleyhansen.com

"Look fer yer profits in the 'earts o' friends,
fer 'atin' never paid no dividends."
(CJ Dennis "The Mooch o' Life")

Post Reply