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Davie Risk snr, Kelso
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Kelso Flood 1917
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The ducks were delving
in muck with their bills
the hares were hirpling
in haste for the hills
the gulls were all grounded
they knew where to go
the house was surrounded
but the backwash was slow.
The creek was a river
no one could get past
the flat was a lake
that was still rising fast.
Should they stay in the house?
should they try for the hills?
he made up his mind
indecision is what kills.
Ned Duff sent his family
all away to their bed
He'd wait up and watch
he dozed and he read
he dozed and he dreamed
beside a big fire
and the water outside
rose higher and higher.
He dreamt he was Noah
and had to build the big ark
and do it by himself
didn't seem such a lark
for how can one man
with only an axe
build a big floating zoo
and a lot of hay stacks.
But he toiled and he trimmed
and he kept cutting hay
Till at last all was ready
for the big opening day
and Japeth and Shem
with the help of young Ham
they first they put in
was a ewe and a ram
and the birds and the beasts
they chased in by twos
the dingoes and dogs helped
with the wild kangaroos.
But when they came to
the insects and ants
they called the job black
till they tied down their pants.
The last to go in
was a sow and a boar
and then with a bang
up went the door.
The ark had to float
for over a year
and the boo of the beasts
it filled him with fear
thousands of animals
all had to be fed
and to hand round the hay
it filled him with dread.
Thousands of animals
after being fed
and to do out the dung
he wished he was dead.
There were tigers and lions
and make no mistake
to look in their cage
it made his heart quake.
He wasn't afraid of
what chewed at their cud
but if the stoats got loose
they'd soon suck his blood.
And then there were those
long slithering snakes
he started to sweat
and then got the shakes.
He wished someone else
would take over his care
he woke by the fire
and was glad to be there.
And the water was seeping
in under the door
And he watched as it moved
all over the floor.
It kept on rising
and searching about
and after a while
the fire sizzled out.
he wore his gumboots
to wade to his bed
where the water was lapping
not far from his head.
Now Ned Duff was nothing
if he wasn't devout
he liked to read the Bible
ere, he put the light out.
He reached for his Bible
and from the Good Book
for his reading that night
this verse he just took
"He who drinks of this water
Shall never thirst more"
He read and reread
and regarding the floor.
With all of "that water"
and all of this rain
he knew he need never
be thirsty again.
"That water" ran fast
and it also ran far
it carried the message
to wherever men are
and his thirst it was quenched
by the teaching he read
and his mind was refreshed
by what One Man said.
He had worried, he had feared
while he dreamed in his sleep
but that which man sows
is what he shall reap.
from his reading that night
he sowed in his mind
the wish and the hope
for a better mankind.
His unspoken wish
was his unspoken prayer
and he had nothing but goodwill
to good men everywhere.
He felt strong in the morning
to contend with life's task
the flood was receding
what more could he ask?
He counted his losses
and the flood was a thief
but what mattered more
he still had his belief.
And the seed he had sown
he had not scattered blind
for the harvest he reaped
was his great peace of mind.
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