Drought-Stricken Henry Lawson, 1903 This poem is from the start of an article by Henry Lawson, "Drought-Stricken". A dusty patch in the Dingo Scrub, That was cleared and ploughed in vain — (What matters it now if the soil be soaked And the bush be dark with rain?) A heap of stones where the chimney stood, And a post on the boundary line — For forty years of my father's life And fifteen years of mine.