On Visiting Neilson's Cottage Poem by Francis Duggan

I visited the cottage of a poet
In the Wimmera Mallee Town of Nhill
A poor rural bard who led a simple life
But whose verses are as fresh as ever still.

A poet who died in nineteen forty two
Some say without a penny to his name
His was the lot the lot of the true poet
And John Shaw Neilson knew no wealth but fame.

The simple things of life he did enjoy
He wrote of brolgas and the orange tree
He was the bard of the Wimmera bush
The greatest singer of the great Mallee.

And John Shaw Neilson surely was great poet
And one like him not born every day
And at poetry readings I've heard reciters quote
His Stony Town and beautiful poem May.

I visited the cottage of a poet
In Nhill Town on a sunny April day
A cottage that will one day go to dust
But Neilson's poems will never fade away.