The Poetry Corner

Dan Wasnt Thrown From His Horse

By Henry Lawson

They say he was thrown and run over, But that is sheer nonsense, of course: I taught him to ride when a kiddy, And Dan wasnt thrown from his horse. The horse that Dan rode was a devil, The kind of a brute I despise, With nasty white eyelashes fringing A pair of red, sinister eyes. And a queerly-shaped spot on his forehead, Where I put a conical ball The day that he murdered Dan Denver, The pluckiest rider of all. Twas after the races were over And Duggan (a Talbragar man) And two of the Denvers, and Barney Were trying a gallop with Dan. Dans horse on a sudden got vicious, And reared up an plunged in the race, Then threw back his head, hitting Dan like A sledge-hammer, full in the face. Dan stopped and got down, stood a moment, Then fell to the ground like a stone, And died about ten minutes after; But theyre liars who say he was thrown.