Shoulder to Shoulder
After seeing Dan and Steve's armour in the police museum in Melbourne I thought about them a lot. How it must have been for them, to be there but in the shadows almost. The focus always on Ned and his impressive figure and yet they endured as much and the end for them was unbearable to think of. They lie within metres of each other in the Greta cemetary like I think they were when they chose their way to end it. Fitting that they should be there like that but so very very sad too.


Not boys, not quite men
We died together
Shoulder to shoulder
And in poor dark soil
We lie side by side

It was no game
Not like the wild Greta days
The fast riding
Flashy clothes
Horses, dancing, pretty girls

Kelly and Hart
Famous perhaps
But what good is fame
When death stalks your dreams
and each day may be the end

We know that he tried
Ned did and Joe too
Wanting to somehow save us
To keep us safe
So we smiled for them

Nodding, flip words
Of short lives, but merry ones
Though our hearts pounded
And fear roiled in our bellies
God knows that we were scared

Still we died like men
Face to face, grief consuming
Knowing that just perhaps
We had done something
Made some difference

Hoping to God, that Ned knew
When he heard those last shots
That it was done
There was none left to save
That he was free to go, to live