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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=374841" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Kerrigan Boys</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">By jove it’s hot on the track today, my flannel is soaked with sweat.<br>I think I’ll sit in the shade a bit and wait for the sun to set.<br>I know of a decent camping place by the river beyond the town,<br>And I’d rather carry my swag through there after the sun goes down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">A touch of pride, well perhaps it is, though I haven’t much cause for pride.<br>It’s sixteen years to a day almost, since old man Kerrigan died.<br>Sixteen years and his place is sold and the fortune he left us spent,<br>For the road down hill is an easy road and that was the way we went.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Kerrigan, that was our father’s name, was one of the tough old sort.<br>And he held by graft as he held by God, and he hated drink and sport.<br>We lads were fond of a bit of fun though he kept us under the rein,<br>And we had to bow to the old man’s will, though it went against our grain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He was kind enough in his hard old way, but we had to earn our keep,<br>Driving horses and milking cows, branding and shearing sheep.<br>No wonder we bucked a bit at times, for you know what youngsters are,<br>We mustn’t dance at the local hall or drink in Mulligan’s bar.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Well, those were the orders the old man gave, but we did it just the same,<br>Jack was two years younger than I, so I was the more to blame.<br>But I’ve often thought had he been less hard and left us a bit more free<br>It might have been better for him perhaps, and better for Jack and me.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The old man dropped in the yard one day where we had the weaners penned.<br>We picked him up and we carried him home but we knew that it was the end.<br>The neighbours gathered from miles around he hadn’t a single foe,<br>And the crowd that stood by the open grave spoke well of the man below. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">We grieved a lot for the old man’s death though he left us wealthy men;<br>If we had not known what he meant to us we realized it then.<br>Our only sister had died at birth and our mother was long since dead,<br>And we found that we were the only heirs when the old man’s will was read</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We were just a couple of country lads; we’d never been off the farm,<br>We’d been held in check from our boyhood up by the weight of the old man’s arm.<br>Good in the saddle and fair with our fists with a touch of the old man’s pride,<br>But the neighbours muttered and shook their heads when old man Kerrigan died.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hard and all as the old man was for years he had kept a stud.<br>For the love of the horse for the horses sake is strong in the Irish blood.<br>But breeding was only a hobby with him a sort of a harmless craze,<br>Though I’d often thought that he had his fling way back in his younger days.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We got mixed up with a racing crowd and started to go the pace.<br>Forgot the sound of the old man’s voice and the frown on his rugged face.<br>For the road down hill is and easy road though it ends in a swift descent,<br>We were only youngsters, a reckless pair, and that was the way we went.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We staked for a win on the Chester colt on the strength of a trail he showed.<br>But someone got to the boy on top, we knew by the race he rode.<br>He lost ten lengths and he finished last it was useless to make a fuss,<br>For the men we met in the racing game were far too cunning for us</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We backed him again in the Greytown Cup and he won by half the straight,<br>But we left our cash in the bookies bags, for he failed to draw the weight.<br>We cursed the jockey and we cursed the horse, and we sold him there and then.<br>We’d had enough of the racing game and the ways of racing men.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We could have got out of our troubles still if we put our hands to the plough,<br>But the life of leisure and cards and drink had got the grip on us now.<br>You may call it flashness or call it pride or simply a want of sencse,<br>But the publicans and auctioneers grew wealthy at our expense.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We sat and drank in Mulligan’s pub and gambled the whole night long.<br>We dealt in cattle and dealt in sheep and most of our deals went wrong.<br>As long as the banks would cash our cheques we didn’t care what we spent,<br>For the road downhill is an easy road and that was the way we went.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then things got bad and a drought came on and it lasted over a year.<br>Our stock died off and our dams gave out and we knew that the end was near.<br>Our credit stopped and the bank foreclosed and our fathers place was sold,<br>For the road downhill is and easy road as the prodigal found of old.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Five years after the old man’s death together we took the track.<br>I wandered into the nearest pub and I had a drink with Jack.<br>Then he shook my hand and he wished me luck and I knew he was close to tears,<br>And I’ve never set eyes on Jack since then or heard of him now for years.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Somewhere out to the west of Bourke he’s humping his swag maybe,<br>Tramping along in the broiling sun and cursing himself and me.<br>I’d give two years of my worthless life, though it may not last that long,<br>For one more look at his honest face, one grip of his fingers strong</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Well that’s the tale of the Kerrigan boys and the moral is near the end.<br>You’ll always have plenty of friend at hand as long as you’ve cash to spend.<br>We had our chance and we played the fool, it’s too late now to repent,<br>For the road downhill is an easy road and that was the road we went.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Edward+Harrington">Edward Harrington</a><div class=q>
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I think I’ll sit in the shade a bit and wait for the sun to set.
I know of a decent camping place by the river beyond the town,
And I’d rather carry my swag through there ..."></div>
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