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C J Dennis - Country Towns - Boort
Work rating: Low

She knows the Mallee`s tragedy
   Of thwarted hope, of pain,
Of promise wrecked, when weak men flee
   And strong men pray in vain;
While day on burning day drifts by
Beneath a brazen, cloudless sky.

She knows the bane of Mallee dust
   When Mallee droughts come down
To filch the last of lingering trust
   And darken her small town --
Darken men`s hearts and minds until 
Nought serves her, save a stubborn will.

All this she knows.  Yet she knows, too --
   On thro` the tale of years
The changing luck of gamblers, who
   Undaunted, scorning fears
Strive on, till fickle fortune rains
A wondrous gift of sudden gains.

And then she knows that mystic thing
   Her jealous earth concealed --
The glory of a Mallee spring
   And many a fruitful yield
Of green corn quickened by sweet showers,
And kine that flatten mid the flowers.

So has she lived beside her lake
   The good and bad years thro`;
Till man-made streams now flow to slake
   Her thirsty earth anew,
And man`s unconquered will has planned
New life for this unstable land.

And who shall say no day may dawn
   When, from the Mallee`s soil
Drought`s fingers are at last withdrawn,
   Seeking no more their spoil;
And, man and Nature in accord,
Win, year by year, toll`s meet reward
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