Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918.

By Louis Esson

171 . Cradle Song

BABY, O baby, fain you are for bed,

Magpie to mopoke busy as the bee;

The little red calf’s in the snug cow-shed,

An’ the little brown bird’s in the tree.

Daddy’s gone a-shearin’, down the Castlereagh,

So we’re all alone now, only you an’ me.

All among the wool-O, keep your wide blades full-O!

Daddy thinks o’ baby, wherever he may be.

Baby, my baby, rest your drowsy head,

The one man that works here, tired you must be,

The little red calf ’s in the snug cow-shed,

An’ the little brown bird ’s in the tree.