Home On The Comet

There’s a train heading out of the station
And it’s bound for town where I was born
Across the shunting track,
Through the city black
The cramped compartment stretches wide and gives a view.

Now we’ve reached the mountains and we slow for another stop,
A pie with sauce, and a drink at the railway shop.
Close your eyes
As the engine steams and sighs
Glance at the girls on the platform, who smile with eyes forlorn.

Settle back, hear the railway whistle blowing
See your reflection in the rising of the dawn

Then it’s out of the hills and into the plains beyond,
Stations that you wink and you blink and they are gone.
Emus running, bush ballerinas
Flounce their skirts, as we go by.
Old man Kangaroo, he’s advancing too
Watch his legs now, across the sky.

Then it’s the town, just past the railway tank,
Three kids and a dog, five houses a pub and a bank.
Willow, Peppertree, Mulga, Coolabah
Salvation Jane on the salt bush plain
Everlasting wink, May Mitchell’s drink,
The bush is soft and still, in the morning rain.

The cows drift on by like clouds across the sky,
I close my book, that I’ve read all day.
The hills of home are near
My eyes are wide and clear,
There’s the creek, where I used to play.

There’s a Train, heading into the station,
Into the town where I was born.
There’s my Mum & Dad
Come to meet their son,
A kiss and a hug, and I’m home once more.

(John Broomhall 1/3/84)
Score to be added