Delta40
12-02-2009, 09:26 AM
Rough stone walls on
Old Hampton Road
chiselled from the quarry
and carted by the convict man
Lashed to ankle chains
he passed the rocks
sharp and heavy
down the line
so the wardens and colonists
might live a comfortable existence
Just down the road from
the shingled roofs
a monstrous rock prison
rose like a gothic horror
built by the shipped offender
and his cellmates
that they might live
if only like animals
in the melting pit of squalor
Luckily the austere church
emanating symptoms of hell
from the quarry carved walls
provided men with a clear sign
of which direction their path could
walk toward
the light or the dark
Yet somewhere between survival God and evil
he helped carve an oasis
A public house on the corner
with bloodied hands and dust dry throat
lost body mass from scorching summer
the convict grew a thirst
for more than just freedom
When Moondyne Joe broke free
of his shackles and disappeared
into the harsh bushland
they named the pub in his honour
Old Hampton Road
chiselled from the quarry
and carted by the convict man
Lashed to ankle chains
he passed the rocks
sharp and heavy
down the line
so the wardens and colonists
might live a comfortable existence
Just down the road from
the shingled roofs
a monstrous rock prison
rose like a gothic horror
built by the shipped offender
and his cellmates
that they might live
if only like animals
in the melting pit of squalor
Luckily the austere church
emanating symptoms of hell
from the quarry carved walls
provided men with a clear sign
of which direction their path could
walk toward
the light or the dark
Yet somewhere between survival God and evil
he helped carve an oasis
A public house on the corner
with bloodied hands and dust dry throat
lost body mass from scorching summer
the convict grew a thirst
for more than just freedom
When Moondyne Joe broke free
of his shackles and disappeared
into the harsh bushland
they named the pub in his honour