The Bonnet of Achilles

[ Breasting The Mountain ]

['Hazeldene,' Stony Creek, Burleigh, South Silvan, Circa 1965]


A heavy paddock-trailer
was filled to three potato tons,
so Dad wanted us boys
as strong hands, help raised
up the pinch-steeps of
a ridden mountainside;
and that long trailer
on a short tractor was
our loaded gun-drawbar ride.

As the weight on the back
of the tractor was great
Dad got us to sit
out on the bonnet
where our weight
could counter the scale
of the load and stop
the front mounting up.

Any thought
of the danger gave
it prestige, was
laughed into the thrill !
we loved to tease risk...
And we knew our own from
a stranger when anyone
said: "You'll be killed."

Often two abreast, we rode
that firing engine helmet
double-banked, kicking up
out in brisk weathers,
and did as wants asked,
on a brink,
too dare-sprited to rankle;
willing, unthanked,
we’d hazard fate,
even fight to be up-on-it,
bronko dinked
like adventurous Achilles,
holding on just
by the bonnet grip
of our ankles.


13 December 1996 © Wayne David Knoll