Jim Cairns

Jim Cairns more than a politician and historians him will recall
As one who was honest and forthright and he put principle first of all
In the seventies the deputy to Prime Minister Gough Whitlam his heart always did rule his head
And unlike others he was not poll driven that of him could never be said.

In the sixties he opposed the Vietnam war back then quite a brave thing to do
And he was one who stuck by the principle that man to thine own self be true
With him 'twas not follow the leader he was one who spoke from the heart
Jim Cairns was a socialist legend and one might say a man apart.

Jim Cairns was a friend of the battlers and the battlers they need every friend
One might say a champion of Labor the working class he did defend
He always said economic rationalism only made poor people more poor
Something designed by conservative politicians to make the wealthy more financially secure.

Jim Cairns died in his eighty ninth year in October two thousand and three
Selling his books at his stall in Kallista Market the great man I often did see
Of the Labor left a true champion and to the higher principles he remained true
He was more than a politician and people like him are so few.