Have you seen the bush by moonlight, from the train, go running by?
Blackened log and stump and sapling, ghostly trees all dead and dry;
Here a patch of glassy water; there a glimpse of mystic sky?
Have you heard the still voice calling – yet so warm, and yet so cold:
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This is one of my most beloved Lawson poems. I feel like that when I walk through the bush. Mother Bush is a living being. When this poem is sung it brings tears to my eyes. I walk with my dog in the bush. As soon as we enter he is at home, I am a visitor, but he belongs. In summer it is lovely and cool under the trees, in winter it is never really cold. I am old now, just as the poet, Mother Bush loves me, I know.
Why do you only feel like a visitor? Are you not born and bred here? I never feel more at home than when I'm amongst the gum trees. Mother Bush lives right behind my back fence and I know she loves me too.