ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Halves

If you take half a step to the left (or right),
And then look up in the air;
If you sniff the breeze for a scent that might
Hold clues to a fox's lair;

If you give your trousers a half a hitch,
Or give your knickers a flick;
If you rub at a spot that is causing an itch,
Or give your top lip a lick;

If you half run your hand through the length of your hair;
If you catch the hint of a tune;
If you upturn a table - or maybe a chair -
And slide down the back of a dune.

If the stars share the night with a half of a moon,
And you ponder the same view from Mars;
Or the look of the heavens in April or June,
Or perhaps behind strong prison bars;

If you feel like a halfwit, but don't know why;
If you know, but never can feel;
If you think of life as a mozzie or fly;
As a jellyfish, squid, or an eel;

If you whisper half truths on the evening breeze;
Or half lies in the dawning calm;
If you swing for no cause between ultimate ease
And astonished, and urgent alarm;

If you're feeling half-whacked from mustering lambs,
Or piglets, or kidlets, or calves,
If you're feeling half-stonkered, or bonkered, or konkered...
But why do things by halves?

Stephen Whiteside 20.03.2013

If you did all of those things you would be to stuffed to do anything I would have thought - I got exhausted just thinking about it all, never mind chasing after lambs and calves.