THE MAIL TIN

by Monty Edwards

Way out west, where willows weep

By creek beds cracked and dry,

A mail tin stands atop a post

Beneath a cloudless sky.

The homestead sits behind a hill:

The mail tin far from view, 

But there, round ten, a song is heard

And you may sing it too.

   It’s time to put the billy on.

          It’s time to fetch the mail!

   It’s time to catch a kangaroo

          And swing it by its tail!

How is it that the farmer’s wife

Can sing this silly song?

She sounds so sure the mail has come,

But what if she is wrong?

The farmhands stop, lay down their tools.

The youngest mounts his horse.

He rides away toward the road

To get the mail, of course!

  It’s time to put the billy on.

          It’s time to fetch the mail!

   It’s time to catch a kangaroo

          And swing it by its tail!

The farmer’s wife saw rising dust.

She heard the rumbling truck.

Her eyes and ears said: “There’s the mail!”

It wasn’t just good luck.

                                                     *

Now years have passed. The mail tin’s gone

That stood through heat and hail.

Not once they caught a kangaroo,

Nor swung it by its tail!

• Submitted in response to Words+Pictures #4    TIME