Gate Gossip - Max Fatchen

Another Australian poem, taken from one of my children's books back when they were at school.

Gate Gossip

I like our gate,

Its sturdy charm

That guards the entrance

To our farm.

It's nice when shut,

Or open wide,

To sit upon

Or sit astride.

But gates are there

With things to do

Like letting sheep

And cattle through.

Our gate has bars

With several bends

From careless cars

Of farming friends.

The gateposts lean,

A little tired,

With fences stretching

Rusty-wired.

A country gate

Is surely best

To prop a farmer

For his rest.

With one foot up,

And elbows flat

Now who could pass

A man like that?

While every bit

Of iron will ring,

With all the

Rural gossiping.

The magpies fly

To sunset tree.

A voice impatient

Calls to tea.

Then whistling,

Home the farmer goes

As gate

And conversation

Close.

by

Max Fatchen

A Paddock of Poems