A Tough Apprenticeship : 8 stanzas each of 4 lines about a city-boy learning to work in the bush.
He was fresh from out of Brisbane,
Never worked the land before.
Didn’t know the bushies’ customs,
Didn’t know their outback lore.
At first they left him to himself,
He just didn’t seem to fit.
They hadn’t set out to be cruel
Still it hurt him quite a bit.
With spectacles and pale-white skin
And uncalloused, tender hands,
They all thought he wouldn’t make it
In that unforgiving land.