Said Grenfell to my spirit, "You-ve been writing very free
Of the charms of other places, and you don-t remember me.
You have claimed another native place and think it-s Nature-s law,
Since you never paid a visit to a town you never saw:
So you sing of Mudgee Mountains, willowed stream and grassy flat:
But I put a charm upon you and you won-t get over that."
O said Grenfell to my spirit, " Though you write of breezy peaks,
Golden Gullies, wattle sidings, and the pools in she-oak creeks,
Of the place your kin were born in and the childhood that you knew,
And your father-s distant Norway (though it has some claim on you),
Though you sing of dear old Mudgee and the home on Pipeclay Flat,
You were born on Grenfell goldfield - and you can-t get over that ."