"Madam Kitty Palmer"

There was a pot of gold beneath her bed,
So I've heard said.
And Paris gown up her bedroom wall.
And she stood proud and tall.
The rarest wines, the finest food,
And music to put her in the mood.
They called her Madam, too.

Women in huts with Hessian floors
Put tea leaves down to still the dust
And a chamber pot is a must,
Though usually made from a can.
Their beds were made from sticks and bags.
Madam called the women 'hags'
And they called her something too.

They went in a gang to call her out
And when she heard the women shout
She came out on the river bank and said
I'll give you just one change.
She said;' If you can sing, if you can dance,
If you can please a man ,
Then wash your curls and join my girls,
'So then the fight began.
They called her names and picked up sticks
And some of them threw rocks.
So Madam said, as bold as brass:
'All right you lot, you can kiss my arse
And I'll throw you to the crocs!.

But that night when Madam, full of wine,
Said;'Everthing in Smithfield's mine! '
There rose the storm of Seventy-nine
And down the Barron roars the flood
And Madam's 'house' awash in mud
And walls and roofs and floors break free
And gowns and shoes float out to sea,
So I am told.
And they never found Kate's pot of gold.

by Victor Barker