Wounded men sat on benches
Banjo's putties splattered with blood
Soldiers trapped in the trenches
German guns fired thud, thud
Banjo wrote poems for the men
Keeping their spirits alive
Trenches filled with every ken
He waded through mud to survive
A box of chocolates from the Queen
A gift he carried through the war
All the men ate with gusto; so lean
Banjo took his home opened his door
We found his gift after one-hundred years
Not fit to eat, the Queen's gift for her men
Our celebrated poet brought tears
Australian bush poet, country pen
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"Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me"
A.B.P
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Author Notes
Contest entry for rhyming poem: Andrew Barton Patterson 17/2/1864 - 5/2/ 1941. His nickname was Banjo, as he went from camp to camp in NSW he played his banjo for the drovers. Always on horseback moving across country, Paterson wrote the most famous poems like, "The man from Snowy River, Clancy of the Overflow and Waltzing Matilda; regarded widely as our unofficial National Anthem. Putties were wound around the lower leg for safety. The men wore serge jodhpurs.
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