will ogilvie poem

[Irene]

Hi
My father was talking about a poem written by Will Ogilvie (possibly after he went back to Scotland) that was published in the military magazine called SALT, produced by the Australian Army Education Service between 1941-46.
It was a poem Will had written after observing the Diggers in London, and the bewilderment they displayed while wandering there.

Some of the lines went as follows:

Lean men, brown men,
men from overseas....


............................
men who know the overland


Bewildered in the whirl of it
where fashions' feet go down.
Lean men, brown men,
Lost in London Town

Does anyone know of the poem?

Thanks
Irene

[Ric Raftis]

I've had a bit of a look through my book "Saddle for a Throne" that was published by RM Williams, but I can't find anything like it Irene.  There is a lot of his poetry in that book that was written after his return to Scotland.

Cheers,

[Irene]

Finally, I have found the words to this poem - many thanks to Burrangong (on the abpa website) who gave me the name of the poem, and what book of verse I would find it in.
It is in Will Ogilvies book called 'The Australian and other Verses' and I was lucky enough to find a copy of the book on the internet.
Will post the poem for any Will Ogilvie fans.

The Brown Men
Will Ogilvie

Lean men, brown men, men from overseas,
men from all the outer world; shy and ill at ease;
‘Wildered in the whirl of it where fashion’s feet go down;
big men, brown men, lost in London Town.

Men whose mighty flocks and herds thread the tussock grass;
men who know the furthest forts that hold the Khyber Pass;
men who sound the moose-call, whose camp-smoke, thin and blue,
scares upon the springtime trail the travelling caribou.

Lean men from the overland with muscles saddle-bound,
sighing for their stirrups and a league of open ground;
hunters in the jungle, trackers through the thorn,
lovers of the hoof-slide and the rope around the horn.

Men who made the mastery that might of Empire brings;
men who built the barrages that bind the river-kings;
men who built the outmost bridge and laid the furthest line,
pilots of the loneliest ships that fly the English sign.

Lean men, brown men, men from overseas;
men from all the outer world; shy and ill at ease;
‘Wildered in the whirl of it where fashion’s feet go down;
do we know the worth of you – lost in London Town?


Hope you enjoy it
Catchya
Irene