In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of Clancy (and Nancy)
Gone a winemaking up to Mudgee where all the tree-changers go,
Or are they doing permaculture? Not just sure of their fancy,
Only their life has pleasures that the city folk never know.

I am sitting in my dingy office in the dusty, dirty city,
Listening to meaningless talks from the next door jerk, 
Oops, I’ve missed another deadline, oh what a pity! 
Now to head home on trains that rarely ever work.

And I somehow fancy that I’d like to change with Clancy (and Nancy),
Have a home among the gum trees where the seasons come and go,
But I guess they’ll be out there till they go to ‘greener’ pastures,
And I’ll stay where I am and watch my in-tray overflow.

(Author’s note: Apologies to Australian poet Banjo Paterson for using some lines from ‘Clancy of the Overflow’)

© Neil Dufty