Poem - Private William M. McDonald

The Gum Leaf

By Private William M. McDonald

It brings me the scent of my own native bush;

And the gum-trees and wattles afar;

And the mystical charm of the bushland at night—

The dark sky and the myriad star.

Oh! the gum leaf has charm for the man of the South,

For it grows in the land of his home,

And it brings back his mind to the happy days spent

In the times ere he started to roam.

 

It will carry him back to his old folks at home,

For he cannot say no to its lure,

And it helps him to follow the rough weary road—

Ay! it helps him to hope and endure.