The widow sought the lawyer's room with children three in tow, <br />She told the lawyer man her tale in tones of deepest woe. <br />She said, "My husband took to drink for pains in his inside, <br />And never drew a sober breath from then until he died. <br /> <br />"He never drew a sober breath, he died without a will, <br />And I must sell the bit of land the childer's mouth to fill. <br />There's some is grown and gone away, but some is childer yet, <br />And times is very bad indeed -- a livin's hard to get. <br /> <br />"There's Min and Sis and little Chris, they stops at home with me, <br />And Sal has married Greenhide Bill that breaks for Bidgeree. <br />And Fred is drovin' Conroy's sheep along the Castlereagh <br />And Charley's shearin' down the Bland, and Peter is away." <br /> <br />The lawyer wrote the details down in ink of legal blue -- <br />"There's Minnie, Susan, Christopher, they stop at home with you; <br />There's Sarah, Frederick and Charles, I'll write to them today, <br />But what about the other son -- the one who is away? <br /> <br />"You'll have to furnish his consent to sell the bit of land." <br />The widow shuffled in her seat, "Oh, don't you understand? <br />I thought a lawyer ought to know -- I don't know what to say -- <br />You'll have to do without him, boss, for Peter is away." <br /> <br />But here the little boy spoke up -- said he, "We thought you knew; <br />He's done six months in Goulburn gaol -- he's got six more to do." <br />Thus in one comprehensive flash he made it clear as day, <br />The mystery of Peter's life -- the man who was away.<br /><br />Andrew Barton Paterson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-man-who-was-away/
