Edward Dyson

“ By the rabbits has been bested; yet he does not know despair —
Though begirt with desolation, though in trouble and in debt,
Though his foes pass numeration, Peter Simson's fighting yet!
He is old too soon and failing, but he's game to start anew,
And he tells his hopeless neighbours 'what the Gov'mint's goin' to do.'
Both his girls are in the city, seeking places with the rest,
And his boys are tracking fortune in the melancholy West.
This work is in the public domain in Australia because it was created in Australia and the term of copyright has expired. ”

“ Made by half a million rabbits, were the lines on Simson's face.
As he fought the bush when younger, Simson stripped and fought again,
Fought the devastating hunger of the plague with might and main,
Neither moping nor despairing, hoping still that times would mend,
Stubborn browed and sternly facing all the trouble Fate could send.
One poor chicken to the acre Simson's land will carry now.
Starved, the locusts have departed; rust is thick upon the plough;
It is vain to think of cattle, or to try to raise a crop,
For the farmer has gone under, and the rabbits are on top. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1931, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 91 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”