Graybeard Joe Poem by Francis Duggan

He was a horse breaker old Graybeard Joe
But that was many, many years ago
One of the best his fame known far and wide
Up in the Snowy Mountain countryside.

The young horse kicked and pranced and bucked around
But he could not throw the breaker to the ground
He rode the brumbies till they galloped tame
Back when his was a legendary name.

But every man will meet his match one day
And Joe met his in the most tragic way
His saddle girth broke he fell, he heard a crack
He could not move he had a broken back.

The old man with gray beard and silver hair
In the sunlit garden sits on his wheelchair
The wattlebirds are calling on the trees
And leaves are falling in the Autumn breeze.

If some one told you that horses he once broke
You well might say that's not a tasteful joke
For to look at him now you would never know
How great a man he once was Graybeard Joe.

The brumby bucked and kicked but Joe held tight
Till the wild horse lost all desire to fight
And up there in the Snowy countryside
The legend of the man went far and wide.

And every man will meet his match one day
And Joe met his in the most tragic way
He hear the wattle birds call on the trees
And Autumn leaves are falling in the breeze.