On Hearing A Magpie Singing Before Dawn Poem by Francis Duggan

On the gum tree on the road side his voice is a give away
The white backed magpie is fluting just before dawning of day
Proudly proclaiming his borders and warning his kin bird stay clear
He is protecting his family and he is the boss around here.

Wide awake an early riser early to bed and to rise
Before the sun the light giver brighten up the mornong skies
Australia's best known feathered songster he sing as soon as he wake
In the darkness of the morning his voice you cannot mistake.

Like the kookaburra, butcherbird and the lyrebird and currawong
He's a fair dinkum Australian and to this southern land belong
He is every bit as Aussie as the wombat or the roo
As the possum or koala or the sulphur crested cockatoo.

On the gum tree on the roadside in the latter days of Spring
In the darkness of the morning I can hear the magpie sing
And though the Summer days are nearing as the Spring comes to an end
Magpie still feels territorial and he has borders to defend.