The Last Rhyme Woman Of Gippsland Poem by Francis Duggan

The last rhyme woman of Gippsland with the departed lay
She was one who loved Nature her poems live on today
The natural World inspired her and with Nature she belong
She glorified the beauty in the white backed magpie's song.

In her marvellous poems to Nature one can hear the wind and rain
And in wet and stormy weather hear the frogs sing in the drain
And the creek flowing through the woodland ever babbling day and night
And she enjoyed her walks in Nature and enjoyed Nature's peace and quiet.

The last rhyme woman of Gippsland back to Nature has returned
And from her poems and ballads much about Nature to be learned
The wattle birds are calling on the flowering Banksia tree
Where the poet at peace is resting in the graveyard by the sea.

The last rhyme woman of Gippsland had a way with words that rhyme
And it can be said about her she was the best of her time
And though rhyme is now on the outer modern poetry the in thing
She will live on in her lyrics for her poetry is to sing.

Each time I hear the butcherbird pipe in the freshening breeze
Or hear the sparrows chirping on the sunlit garden trees
I think of the last rhyme woman of Gippsland in her songs the birds sing
And Gippsland hills are green and beautiful in their wildflowers of the Spring.