| Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918. |
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| 177. Australian Spring |
| | | By Hugh McCrae |
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| THE BLEAK-FACED Winter, with his braggart winds | |
| (Coiled to his scrawny throat in tattered black), | |
| Posts down the highway of his late domain, | |
| His spurs like leeches in his bleeding hack. | |
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| He rides to reach the huge embattled hills | 5 |
| Where all the brooding summer he may lie | |
| Engulfed in Kosciusko’s silent snow, | |
| His shadow waving o’er the lofty sky. | |
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| And jolly Spring, with love and laughter gay | |
| Full fountaining, lets loose her tide of bees | 10 |
| Upon the waking ember-flame of bloom | |
| New kindled in the honey-scented trees. | |
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| The old, old man forsakes the chimney-hole, | |
| Where erst he warmed his bones and lazy blood, | |
| And, clasping Molly to his wheezing breast, | 15 |
| Triumphant floats, cock-whoop, upon the flood. | |
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