The Bundaleer Throne

We live out at Bundaleer in

A cabin, in the bush,

Where the air is so much cleaner,

And there's little need to rush,

We have pigs and sheep and chickens,

And we pick our vegies fresh,

So it caused a stir of interest

When we heard of Uncle's death!

 

Now the 'Uncle' was my mother's

So he wasn't close to us,

And in fact we'd never met him,

Just heard tales of 'Uncle Gus',

He'd been in the 4th Light Horse

At Beersheba, so they said,

In that last great charge of cavalry

That stained the desert red.

 

'He became a touch eccentric

After that,' my mother sighed,

'And for years we never heard of him,

We thought he might have died.

But it seems that he'd been wandering

In Egypt and elsewhere,

And collecting all those knick-knacks

In his cottage at Gulnare.'

 

The morning that they read his will

It came as a surprise,

For we'd never even known him,

Nor my mother, bless her eyes,

But he'd left to us a token to

Collect down at Gulnare,

From his cottage, it was massive,

Was this old Egyptian chair!

 

It was made of cane and cedar,

And some stuff that was antique,

There were carvings, funny pictures

Carved on plates of ivory,

It was most dilapidated like

He'd kept it in the barn,

So we used the truck of Barry's,

And we brought it to the farm.

 

Then we washed it and we scrubbed it

And it came up rather nice,

But when friends came round to gawk

I simply said - 'Oh, that's the wife's!'

They'd grin and wink as if to say

'We think your wife's a loon!'

I'd shrug, and say, 'Oh, I don't know....

That chair sets off the room!'

 

That night the wind was restless

As it eddied through the trees,

There were lots of weird creakings

In the cattle sheds, the eaves,

And the wife, she woke up crying,

Said she felt this deep despair,

'I was dancing to strange music,

There was blossom in my hair!'

 

The morning saw the wind swing round

Come in from north and west,

It brought in swarms of locusts

On the land, just like a vest,

They stripped the country round about

They covered up the green,

The locals said the swarm was big,

The biggest ever seen!

 

We noticed that the weather changed,

Was hot, as dry as dust,

And the bush became all yellow

And the leaves resembled rust,

While mice infested every barn,

Ate locusts by the score,

Then poured in by the hundreds

Through the open cottage door.

 

That night I lay awake, and heard

Some voices, whispered low,

Outside there, in the darkness,

By the open patio,

I went out to investigate

But only saw the trees,

The shadows in the moonlight,

And I heard the drone of bees.

 

The morning saw a hundred swarms

All hanging from the boughs,

'You'll have to call in Corrigan,

The Apiarist, for now!'

But Corrigan was limited

With insufficient hives,

I'd sprayed them all, and killed them,

Before Corrigan arrived.

 

That night I saw dim shadows cast

On windows, that were men,

But wearing ancient uniforms,

With spears and shields, and then...

A guard appeared to walk along

The meadow, by the bog,

The shadow that his head had cast,

It looked just like a dog!

 

I sat that night and fell asleep

Upon our special 'throne',

And there, within the darkness,

In my sleep, I heard a groan,

A voice, raised up to heaven seemed

To come from near and far,

I didn't understand a word...

But one I did was  - Ra!

 

The morning brought a plague of dust,

The wind howled round in space,

By evening, you couldn't see

Your hand before your face,

My wife sobbed uncontrollably,

She said: 'We're caught in sin!

That 'throne' has brought these plagues on us,

That throne's an evil thing!'

 

We lay that night in terror while

The phantoms clashed outside,

And troops of horses whinnied,

Shields clashed, and soldiers died,

The throne lies by the apple tree

Illumined by each star,

While Pharoah sleeps eternally,

At one out there, with Ra!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

It's nearly 2 a.m. on July 4th, and I was just about to sign off and go to sleep as my eyes are very weary. I was surprised at the last minute to see that you had posted something new. I'm so glad! If plagued by your verses for the rest of my life, I would die smiling.

You never cease to amaze me with your narrative poems. Merriam-Webster should place your picture beside the words: brilliant, imaginative, amazing, superb. And you are!

I loved it!

Linda Marie Van Tassell

[Valentine]

Another astounding piece..how you come up with these from beginning to end is amazing..Hope that Pharoah is resing in pease..lola nd God bless..Kathie

[Norma J. Jessee]

Few writer's can write action scenes that all but leap off the page the way you can David.
Vivid and fascinating ..... packed with intrigue and furious action. A great adventure with all the right ingredients : victories and defeats, secrets and revelations, life and death, reverence and godlessness, hate and love............. I find your tales so rewarding and satisfying................ A grand tale....

[J.P. Bristow]

This was incredible!!!