Slugs bounced from Ned’s iron hat 
When troopers shot him in the fray
Now another kind of mask
Will keep the virus germs at bay

Well it’s mask up Ben, mask up Ned
Mask up all bushrangers
We have to kill this virus dead
We can’t ignore the dangers

Ben we know you were a gent
The ladies found you raunchy
But your cheeky smile these days
When covered is less jaunty

We have prices on our heads
Disguised we roam the land
Some laws we proudly break but
Unmasked robbery is banned

The state named for an English queen
Killed Ned without blushing
To stop all Victorians
To a republic rushing

Ben was shot in his sleep
Though that was forbidden
Justice in New South Wales?
Oh who are you kidding?

We work hard so wealth is shared
And also the workload
The filthy rich no masks will wear
They care not for us poor folk

© 2020 Tony Smith

Title by Matt Bango, body photo by Words as Pictures from StockSnap.

A former academic, Tony Smith has written extensively on a wide range of subjects as diverse as folk music and foreign policy issues in the Australian Review of Public Affairs, the Journal of Australian Studies Review of Books, Overland, the Australian Quarterly, Eureka Street, Online Opinion and Unleashed.