Poems List

Ned’s Delicate Way

Ned’s Delicate Way

Ned knew I was short of tobacco one day,
And that I was too proud to ask for it;
He hated such pride, but his delicate way
Forbade him to take me to task for it.


I loathed to be cadging tobacco from Ned,
But, when I was just on the brink of it;
‘I’ve got a new brand of tobacco”, he said –
“Try a smoke, and let’s know what you think of it.”
192

My Literary Friend

My Literary Friend

Once I wrote a little poem which I thought was very fine,
And I showed the printer’s copy to a critic friend of mine,
First he praised the thing a little, then he found a little fault;
‘The ideas are good,’ he muttered, ‘but the rhythm seems to halt.’


So I straighten’d up the rhythm where he marked it with his pen,
And I copied it and showed it to my clever friend again.
‘You’ve improved the metre greatly, but the rhymes are bad,’ he said,
As he read it slowly, scratching surplus wisdom from his head.


So I worked as he suggested (I believe in taking time),
And I burnt the ‘midnight taper’ while I straightened up the rhyme.
‘It is better now,’ he muttered, ‘you go on and you’ll succeed,
‘It has got a ring about it—the ideas are what you need.’


So I worked for hours upon it (I go on when I commence),
And I kept in view the rhythm and the jingle and the sense,
And I copied it and took it to my solemn friend once more—
It reminded him of something he had somewhere read before.


Now the people say I’d never put such horrors into print
If I wasn’t too conceited to accept a friendly hint,
And my dearest friends are certain that I’d profit in the end
If I’d always show my copy to a literary friend.
238

My Father-in-Law and I

My Father-in-Law and I

MY father-in-law is a careworn man,
And a silent man is he;
But he summons a smile as well as he can
Whenever he meets with me.
The sign we make with a silent shake
That speaks of the days gone by—
Like men who meet at a funeral—
My father-in-law and I.


My father-in-law is a sober man
(And a virtuous man, I think);
But we spare a shilling whenever we can,
And we both drop in for a drink.
Our pints they fill, and we say, “Ah, well!”
With the sound of the world-old sigh—
Like the drink that comes after a funeral—
My father-in-law and I.


My father-in-law is a kindly man—
A domestic man is he.
He tries to look cheerful as well as he can
Whenever he meets with me.
But we stand and think till the second drink
In a silence that might imply
That we’d both get over a funeral,
My father-in-law and I.
279

Mount Bukaroo

Mount Bukaroo

Only one old post is standing -Solid
yet, but only one --
Where the milking, and the branding,
And the slaughtering were done.
Later years have brought dejection,
Care, and sorrow; but we knew
Happy days on that selection
Underneath old Bukaroo.

Then the light of day commencing
Found us at the gully's head,
Splitting timber for the fencing,
Stripping bark to roof the shed.
Hands and hearts the labour strengthened;
Weariness we never knew,
Even when the shadows lengthened
Round the base of Bukaroo.

There for days below the paddock
How the wilderness would yield
To the spade, and pick, and mattock,
While we toiled to win the field.

Bronzed hands we used to sully
Till they were of darkest hue,
`Burning off' down in the gully

At the back of Bukaroo.

When we came the baby brother
Left in haste his broken toys,
Shouted to the busy mother:
`Here is dadda and the boys!'
Strange it seems that she was able
For the work that she would do;
How she'd bustle round the table
In the hut 'neath Bukaroo!

When the cows were safely yarded,
And the calves were in the pen,
All the cares of day discarded,
Closed we round the hut-fire then.
Rang the roof with boyish laughter
While the flames o'er-topped the flue;
Happy days remembered after -Far
away from Bukaroo.

But the years were full of changes,
And a sorrow found us there;
For our home amid the ranges
Was not safe from searching Care.
On he came, a silent creeper;
And another mountain threw


O'er our lives a shadow deeper
Than the shade of Bukaroo.

All the farm is disappearing;
For the home has vanished now,
Mountain scrub has choked the clearing,
Hid the furrows of the plough.
Nearer still the scrub is creeping
Where the little garden grew;
And the old folks now are sleeping
At the foot of Bukaroo.
230

Middleton's Rouseabout

Middleton's Rouseabout

Tall and freckled and sandy,
Face of a country lout;
This was the picture of Andy,
Middleton's Rouseabout.

Type of a coming nation,
In the land of cattle and sheep,
Worked on Middleton's station,
`Pound a week and his keep.'

On Middleton's wide dominions
Plied the stockwhip and shears;
Hadn't any opinions,
Hadn't any `idears'.

Swiftly the years went over,
Liquor and drought prevailed;
Middleton went as a drover,
After his station had failed.

Type of a careless nation,
Men who are soon played out,
Middleton was: -- and his station
Was bought by the Rouseabout.

Flourishing beard and sandy,
Tall and robust and stout;
This is the picture of Andy,
Middleton's Rouseabout.

Now on his own dominions
Works with his overseers;
Hasn't any opinions,
Hasn't any `idears'.
282

Mary Called Him 'Mister'

Mary Called Him 'Mister'

They'd parted but a year before—she never thought he’d come,
She stammer’d, blushed, held out her hand, and called him ‘Mister Gum.’
How could he know that all the while she longed to murmur ‘John.’
He called her ‘Miss le Brook,’ and asked how she was getting on.


They’d parted but a year before; they’d loved each other well,
But he’d been to the city, and he came back such a swell.
They longed to meet in fond embrace, they hungered for a kiss—
But Mary called him ‘Mister,’ and the idiot called her ‘Miss.’


He stood and lean’d against the door—a stupid chap was he—
And, when she asked if he’d come in and have a cup of tea,
He looked to left, he looked to right, and then he glanced behind,
And slowly doffed his cabbage-tree, and said he ‘didn’t mind.’


She made a shy apology because the meat was tough,
And then she asked if he was sure his tea was sweet enough;
He stirred the tea and sipped it twice, and answer’d ‘plenty, quite;’
And cut the smallest piece of beef and said that it was ‘right.’


She glanced at him at times and cough’d an awkward little cough;
He stared at anything but her and said, ‘I must be off.’
That evening he went riding north—a sad and lonely ride—
She locked herself inside her room, and there sat down and cried.


They’d parted but a year before, they loved each other well—
But she was such a country girl and he was such a swell ;
They longed to meet in fond embrace, they hungered for a kiss—
But Mary called him ‘Mister’ and the idiot called her ‘Miss.
267

Macleay Street and Red Rock Lane

Macleay Street and Red Rock Lane

Macleay Street looks to Mosman,
Across the other side,
With brave asphalted pavements
And roadway clean and wide.
Macleay Street hath its mansions,
Its grounds and greenery;
Macleay Street hath its terraces
As terraces should be.


Red Rock Lane looks to nowhere,
With pockets into hell;
Red Rock Lane is a horror
Of heat and dirt and smell.
Red Rock Lane hath its brothels,
Of houses one in three;
Red Rock Lane hath its corner pubs
As fourth-rate pubs should be.


Macleay Street, cool and quiet,
Is marked off from the town,
And standing in the centre
The tall arc lamps look down.
The jealous closed cabs vanish
That stole from out the row,
Fair women stroll bareheaded,
And theatre parties go.


Red Rock Lane, hot with riot,
Hides things that none should know;
The furtive couples vanish
Through doorways dark and low.
Lust, thievery, drink and madness
In one infernal stew—
And Mrs Johnson, raving,
Walks out—bareheaded too.


Macleay Street hath its swindles,
But on a public scale;
Macleay Street hath its razzles
Until the night grows pale.
Macleay Street hath its scandals,
But—only this is plain,
That nothing is a scandal
Down there in Red Rock Lane.


Macleay Street looks to Mosman
In morning’s rosy glow,
And freshly to the city
The summer-suited go
While wild-eyed, foul and shaking,
Red Rock Lane wakes again.
This morning at the Central



They’re fining Red Rock Lane.


The Central says “the risin’”,
“Seven days”, or what you will;
Macleay Street says, “Drive slowly”
When any one is ill.
The law sends Black Maria
When Red Rock Lane is dead.
But doctors come in motor cars
When Macleay Street’s got a head.


The grey-faced, weedy parents
Sunk in Red Rock Lane holes—
They worry, pinch, and perish
To save their children’s souls.
The fairy of Macleay Street
Shall never soil her hands—
Her Pa is independent,
Or high up in “the Lands”.


And—well, there seems no moral,
And nothing more to tell,
But because of that fierce sympathy
Of souls to souls in hell;
And because of that wild kindness
To souls in sordid pain,
My soul I’d rather venture
With some in Red Rock Lane.
186

Let’s Be Fools To-Night

Let’s Be Fools To-Night

We, three men of commerce,
Striving wealth to raise,
See but little promise
In the coming days;
Though our hearts are brittle,
Hardened near to stone,
We can think a little
Of the seasons flown.


Lily days and rose days:
Youthful days so bright;
We were fools in those days,
Let’s be fools to-night.


We, three men of commerce,
Men of business we,
Gave but little promise
Of what we would be
When we wandered urchins—
Foes of law and rule—
Fearing only birchings
And the village school.


Lily days and rose days,
Boyhood’s days so bright;
We were fools in those days,
Let’s be fools to-night.


We, three men of commerce,
Men of business we,
Gave but little promise
Of ability
When we lived in riot;
Never drew the line,
Hating peace and quiet,
Loving maids and wine.


Days when money goes—days
When men’s hearts are right;
We were fools in those days,
Let’s be fools to-night.


We must wear to-morrow
All our worldly marks,
Calm looks for our sorrow,
Stern looks for our clerks,
Who, from trouble shrinking,
Tasting earthly joys,
Hate us, little thinking
Ever we were boys.


Days when kindness flows—days



When men’s hearts are white;
We’ve been wise since those days,
Let’s be fools to-night.
219

Laughing and Sneering

Laughing and Sneering

WHAT tho' the world does me ill turns
And cares my life environ;
I’d sooner laugh with Bobbie Burns
Than sneer with titl'd Byron.


The smile has always been the best;
’Tis stronger than the frown, sirs:
And Venus smiled the waves to rest;
She didn’t sneer them down, sirs.
252

Lachlan Side

Lachlan Side

REGION of damper and junk and tea,
Region of pastures wide!
The fairest spots in the world to me
Are out on the Lachlan Side.


CHORUS:
I’m off to the Lachlan Side,
Where the bright lagoons are wide;
I long for river and grass and tree,
And someone dearer than all to me,
Far out on the Lachlan Side.


My heart was hardened against advice
And reason I would not see,
For by the ocean a paradise
The city appeared to me.


CHORUS:
I’m off to the Lachlan Side, etc.


“Not I for a bumpkin’s fate,” I cried,
“I’ll not be a country clown!
A life’s too slow on the Lachlan Side;
I’ll go to the shining town!”


CHORUS:
I’m off to the Lachlan Side, etc.


I’ve lost the battle, I strike the flag,
The town may sink in the tide;
A wiser head and a lighter swag
I take to the Lachlan Side.


CHORUS:
I’m off to the Lachlan Side, etc.


When crops of wool on the plains shall grow,
Shall flourish in drought or rain,
And when the shearers begin to mow
I’ll come to the town again.


CHORUS:
I’m off to the Lachlan Side, etc.


But now I go to a kinder fate,
If her love still conquers pride;
Her heart was true when she sobbed, “I’ll wait
For you on the Lachlan Side.”


CHORUS:
I’m off to the Lachlan Side,
Where the bright lagoons are wide;



I long for river and grass and tree,
And someone dearer than all to me,
Far out on the Lachlan Side.
213

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Identification and basic context

Henry Lawson was a highly influential Australian writer and poet. He is best known for his short stories and poems that vividly depicted Australian bush life, the lives of selectors, shearers, and swagmen, and the harsh realities of the Australian landscape.

Childhood and education

Born in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Lawson had a difficult childhood marked by poverty and his parents' strained relationship. He received little formal schooling and was largely self-educated, developing a passion for reading and writing.

Literary trajectory

Lawson began his writing career submitting poems and stories to magazines. His work gained popularity in the 1890s, particularly through 'The Bulletin' magazine. His early collections, such as 'Short Stories in Verse' (1894) and 'While the Billy Boils' (1896), established him as a major voice in Australian literature.

Works, style, and literary characteristics

Lawson's most famous works include 'The Drover's Wife', 'The Loaded Dog', 'The Union Buries Its Dead', and poems like 'The:]. He explored themes of hardship, mateship, the Australian identity, loneliness, drought, and the vastness of the outback. His style is characterized by realism, stark simplicity, direct language, and a profound understanding of the Australian character and environment. He often used colloquialisms and captured the authentic voice of the bush.

Cultural and historical context

Lawson wrote during a pivotal period in Australian history, the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time of economic depression, burgeoning nationalism, and the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia. His work reflected the social and economic conditions of the time, particularly the struggles of rural workers and the mythos of the bushman.

Personal life

Lawson's life was marked by personal struggles, including alcoholism, financial difficulties, and mental health issues. His marriage to Bertha Bredon ended in separation. Despite his literary success, he often lived in poverty and faced periods of institutionalization.

Recognition and reception

Lawson is considered a national icon in Australia. His work was immediately popular with readers for its authentic portrayal of Australian life. He is widely regarded as Australia's 'bush poet' and a foundational figure in Australian literature.

Influences and legacy

He was influenced by American writers like Bret Harte and Mark Twain, as well as English poets. Lawson's legacy lies in his shaping of the Australian literary identity and his realistic portrayal of Australian life. He inspired generations of Australian writers to explore their own national themes and characters.

Interpretation and critical analysis

His work is often analyzed for its social commentary, its depiction of the Australian landscape as both beautiful and harsh, and its exploration of the 'masculine' Australian identity characterized by resilience and stoicism.

Curiosities and lesser-known aspects

He famously wrote a petition for a public holiday to commemorate the 'Day of the Shearer'. His relationship with 'The Bulletin' magazine was central to his career.

Death and memory

Henry Lawson died in Sydney. He is commemorated by statues, street names, and numerous studies of his life and work, solidifying his status as a cherished figure in Australian culture.