Old Campbell The Swaggy

Old Campbell the Swaggy is in Port Fairy today But by this time tomorrow he will be on his way Perhaps towards New South Wales and in a bigger town So many roadways he has been up and down With wrinkled brown face from life in the open air Old Campbell self barbers his long straggly dark greying hair An amiable old fellow of him one can say There are few of his kind left in the Australia of today In festivals in old rural towns in the brown countryside By people Campbell the Swaggie is known far and wide He recites old poems and bush ballads he learned as a boy To so many people this man has brought joy Old Campbell the Swaggie his body now showing the wear of time At least twenty five years past his physical prime He has often slept on his swag on the unsheltered ground Without bushes or trees anywhere near around Old Campbell the Swaggie he leads an adventurous life Cannot say if he did father children or has had a partner or wife In South East Australia he is widely known One can say of him that he is in a class of his own.