The Southerly Buster
There’s a wind that blows out of the South in the drought, And we pray for the touch of his breath When siroccos come forth from the North-West and North, Or in dead calms of fever and death. With eyes glad and dim we should sing him a hymn, For depression and death are his foes, And he gives us new life for the bread-winning strife When the glorious Old Southerly blows. Old Southerly Buster! your forces you muster Where seldom a wind bloweth twice, And your ‘white-caps’ have hint of the snow caps, and glint of The far-away barriers of ice. No wind the wide sea on can sing such a poean Or do the great work that you do; Our own wind and only, from seas wild and lonely Old Southerly Buster! To you! Oh, the city is baked, and its thirst is unslaked, Though it swallows iced drinks by the score, And the blurred sky is low and the air seems aglow As if breezes would cool it no more. We are watching all hands where the Post Office stands We are watching out hopefully too For a red light shall glower from the Post Office tower When the Southerly Buster is due. The yachts run away at the end of the day From the breakers commencing to comb, For a few he may swamp in the health-giving romp With the friendly Old Southerly home. But he never drowns one, for the drowning is done By the fools, or the reckless in sport; And the alleys and slums shall be cooled when he comes With the weary wind-jammers to port. Oh softly he plays through the city’s hot ways To the beds where they’re calling ‘Come quick!’ He is gentle and mild round the feverish child, And he cools the hot brow of the sick. Clearing drought-hazy skies, up the North Coast he hies Till the mouths of our rivers are fair And along the sea, too, he has good work to do, For he takes the old timber-tubs there. ’Tis a glorious mission, Old Sydney’s Physician! Broom, Bucket, and Cloth of the East, ’Tis a breeze and a sprayer that answers our prayer, And it’s free to the greatest and least. The red-lamp’s a warning to drought and its scorning A sign to the city at large Hence! Headache and Worry! Despondency hurry! Old Southerly Buster’s in charge Old Southerly Buster! your forces you muster Where seldom a wind bloweth twice, And your ‘white-caps’ have hint of the snow caps, and glint of The far-away barriers of ice. No wind the wide sea on can sing such a poean Or do the great work that you do; Our own wind and only, from seas wild and lonely Old Southerly Buster! To you!
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