Colour becomes white
Like Doves
Transparent windows of ice
The sun shines down valleys
and alleyways
Crimson in devise

Light beams of orange and green
Send Larrikins tending
To fields of magical beans
To ride upon an insects back
Dressed in robes of inquest black

Tortoiseshell Mottled
Outback Bottled
Wattle Tree
We see the discovery
In magnified photography

Little whiskers
Like astronauts
Like blue defines the out line
of an afterthought

Colours return
In high definition
Sublime eyes
Sneak a second glimpse
of the premonition

Silver and gold
Stories foretold
In the ages of old
Surreal animals
Exchanging gifts
Plugging the holes
Of which become rifts

The delicate curves
of ambiguous reef
The place where wayward
Ships come to grief

The whole world rides
On a Tortoise's back
The illusion of time
Soon shows up in the cracks

Misty rivers
Cascade through valleys
In place of the footpath
In place of the alleys

The earth is a middle age man's
Hairline receding
With a mind like a open cut mine
With a heart that's bleeding

Baring itself to the elements
Delicately flowering
Self-pollinating diversity
In the face of adversity

Our Attention turns to flying
Gracefully
Showing
The birds what to do

(This poem can be sung to the melody of the old folk song "Tom Dooley.")

(chorus)
What did you want, Ned Kelly?°
What gave you grounds for hope?
Well, Ned, it can't be fun when
You're hanging from a rope.

Bushranger°° Harry Power…
Was he a loyal mate?
They say he was your mentor
Who led you to your fate.

Victims of persecution--
That's what you said you were.
Victims of your gang's horse theft
Would not at all concur.

Bush larrikins°°° were suspect.
Rather than get a job
You chose a different path when
You joined the Greta Mob.

Some say you were a hero
Who thought he was doing good.
You said the poor need justice;
You were their Robin Hood.

Others call you an outlaw,
Killer, and evil guy.
You killed with no compunction,
So you deserved to die.

(chorus)
What did you want, Ned Kelly?°
What gave you grounds for hope?
Well, Ned, it can't be fun when
You're hanging from a rope.

Your gang shot three policemen
Camped at Stringybark Creek.
Who then would put a stop to
Your game of hide and seek?

You murdered Aaron Sherritt;°°°°
You thought he was a snitch.
Maybe you learned your lesson:
Karma could be a *****.

There at your final shootout
You lost your loyal friends.
Well, Ned, you learned that it was
Too late to make amends.

Right after you were sentenced,
Your judge made it his goal
To say he hoped that God would
Have mercy on your soul.

What he said didn't faze you.
You countered blow for blow.
You turned to him and said, "I'll
See you there where I go."

They led you to the gallows.
Different reporters said
What words you might have spoken
Before the rope fell, Ned.

(chorus)
What did you want, Ned Kelly?°
What gave you grounds for hope?
Well, Ned, it can't be fun when
You're hanging from a rope.

-by Bob B (5-16-24)

°Famous Australian outlaw (1854-1880)
°°Australians who took up "robbery under arms" and used the bush as their base
°°°Rowdies who defied social and political conventions
°°°°An associate of Ned Kelly's gang of outlaws