Waterfall Jackson
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:06 am
Hi,
I'm a new member here and this is my first post. I lived in Sydney for years and last year moved to Crookwell, NSW. I've been a composer and since living in the country I have really grown to enjoy Australian bush poetry, and have just written my first bush poem which I have set to an original piece of music I wrote to accompany it, so thought I would share it here. I'm not sure how many other 'musical' bush poets there are out there!
If you would like to listen to me read my poem set to my music, I have uploaded it to youtube. I have a small recording studio on my farm, and I really enjoy recording my own works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7z4qB40s4U
If you would just like to read my poem, here it is below. It is about a man who loses his property, and his life, to drought and the banks. I really look forward to more writing now I have the time at hand.
Waterfall Jackson
The letter was found in his pocket
Though the contents were still unread
It carried the stamp of the lawyers
So there was nothing more to be said
The grass, it bent like a shroud
And the trees, they hung their leaves
The flies around Jackson's head that day
They sang like bees
Jackson blew his brains out
Down by the old ghost gum
They say that the station-hand saw it
But he was deaf and dumb
The harvesters went to the bankers
And the tractor, she sold for a song
They chained the gate when the last ute left
They locked it up real strong
And still he was hoping
That the rain, it would come
Like a waterfall
Jackson spent his last day
Packing bags and shooting dogs
Still he looked up to that cloudless sky
Still he prayed to God
So he laid down by the old ghost gum
His finger on the trigger of his gun
And the shot rang out like a thunderclap
And it was done
And still he was hoping
That the rain, it would come
Like a waterfall
I'm a new member here and this is my first post. I lived in Sydney for years and last year moved to Crookwell, NSW. I've been a composer and since living in the country I have really grown to enjoy Australian bush poetry, and have just written my first bush poem which I have set to an original piece of music I wrote to accompany it, so thought I would share it here. I'm not sure how many other 'musical' bush poets there are out there!
If you would like to listen to me read my poem set to my music, I have uploaded it to youtube. I have a small recording studio on my farm, and I really enjoy recording my own works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7z4qB40s4U
If you would just like to read my poem, here it is below. It is about a man who loses his property, and his life, to drought and the banks. I really look forward to more writing now I have the time at hand.
Waterfall Jackson
The letter was found in his pocket
Though the contents were still unread
It carried the stamp of the lawyers
So there was nothing more to be said
The grass, it bent like a shroud
And the trees, they hung their leaves
The flies around Jackson's head that day
They sang like bees
Jackson blew his brains out
Down by the old ghost gum
They say that the station-hand saw it
But he was deaf and dumb
The harvesters went to the bankers
And the tractor, she sold for a song
They chained the gate when the last ute left
They locked it up real strong
And still he was hoping
That the rain, it would come
Like a waterfall
Jackson spent his last day
Packing bags and shooting dogs
Still he looked up to that cloudless sky
Still he prayed to God
So he laid down by the old ghost gum
His finger on the trigger of his gun
And the shot rang out like a thunderclap
And it was done
And still he was hoping
That the rain, it would come
Like a waterfall
I went to school with a bloke by the name of Richard Singleton. I haven't had contact with him for years but I was interested to find out on an internet social site that his family came from the Hunter Valley. So I think he would be a relation. I think he is in Sydney somewhere.