The Countryman Poem by Francis Duggan

The Countryman may go to live in the City but the Countryside in him remain
And often in his flights of fancy he hears the frogs sing in the drain
And he hears the boobook owl calling as he hunt on the moonlit gum trees
That voice once to him so familiar comes to him in the freshening breeze.

The Countryman lives in the City for one reason much higher pay
He has to support a wife and raise a young family in his rural Town he could not afford to stay
He used to work for a dairy farmer from dawn until fading twilight
Working condition in the City far better he now works on a building site.

Yet often in his flights of fancy he walks down the Country Town street
And he stops for to chat to an old friend one that he feels happy to meet
Such things that he miss about his Hometown where his was a familiar face
He may live and work in the City but the City is not his home-place.

The Countryman lives in the City far from the home of the wombat and roo
But in fancy he can hear the shrike thrush and the yellow tail black cockatoo
Huge parrots to him once familiar with strong beaks and feathers dark brown
Shred pine cones for their tiny dark seed on the pine trees in the park of the Town.