L. Th. Lehmann [1920-2012] photo: Leo van Velzen |
Duck-billed platypus
I proposed once
Peg, from Geelong,
and was
refused,
for a year
I still got real tears in my eyes
when I
heard 'Waltzing Mathilda'
because I
didn't know any other Australian song.
Almost
twenty years later
I met a
typically
re-emigrated
Dutch couple.
Their little
son still had a platypus
made of
nylon wool, called the plat pussy,
with in the belly a music box
that played 'Waltzing
Mathilda'.
(Original title: 'Duck-billed platypus' - from: 'Gedichten 1939-1998', 2000 - Uitgeverij De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam)