Spring Cattle - Louis Esson

With bells the bush tinkles,
   Men shout, hard hoofs rattle.
Spring sharpens the nostrils
   Of winter-wild cattle.

(O the Spring-quickened earth
   Warm breaths, and birds' caw-caws;
And sunshine that splashes
   Snow streaked on the Baw-Baws!)

For wild oats they foraged,
   Turned out till the seed-time
In the blanket-wood scrub,
   Waiting milk-time and feed-time.

Now back to the bails
   Over creeks and round cutting,
Proud mothers bring calves
   All roaring and butting.

And shouts, and bells clanging
   Break louder and clearer
Down bush tracks to Neerim;
   And bells clatter nearer.

Till roads ring and rattle
  As home the mob passes
To the milk-pails, warm sheds,
   And the sweet springing grasses

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Louis Esson (1878 – 1943) Australia (born Scotland)