Poems List
Explore poems from our collection
Watching The Crows
Watching The Crows
A bushman got lost in a scrub in the North,
And all the long morning the searchers went forth.
They swore at the rain that had washed …
When Hopes Ran High
When Hopes Ran High
When hopes ran high the world was young,
We thought that we would never die,
And glorious were the songs we sung
In those grand…
Up The Country
Up The Country
I am back from up the country -- very sorry that I went --
Seeking for the Southern poets' land whereon to pitch my tent;
I have lost a lot…
Victory
Victory
The schools marched in procession in happiness and pride,
The city bands before them, the soldiers marched beside;
Oh, starched white frock…
Trouble on the Selection
Trouble on the Selection
You lazy boy, you’re here at last,
You must be wooden-legged;
Now, are you sure the gate is fast
And all the sliprails peg…
Untitled
Untitled
When his heart is growing bitter and his hair is growing grey,
And he hears the debt-collector knocking several times a day,
And the shril…
To-Morrow
To-Morrow
When you’re suffering hard for your sins, old man,
When you wake to trouble and sleep ill—
Oh, this is the clack of the middle class,
To Tom Bracken
To Tom Bracken
O had you tracked where Kendall* trod
I think you would be kneelin’
Three times a week and thankin’ God
That you are of New Zealan’!…
To Show What a Man Can Do
To Show What a Man Can Do
There has been many a grander deed since man had life to give,
And thousands have gone to certain death, eyes open, that men might li…
To My Friends
To My Friends
These are songs of the Friends I neglected—
And the Foes, too, in part;
These are songs that were mostly rejected—
And songs from my …
To Jack
To Jack
SO, I’ve battled it through on my own, Jack,
I have done with all dreaming and doubt.
Though “stoney” to-night and alone, Jack,
I am watchi…
To Be Amused
To Be Amused
You ask me to be gay and glad
While lurid clouds of danger loom,
And vain and bad and gambling mad,
Australia races to her doom.
To a Pair of Blucher Boots
To a Pair of Blucher Boots
OLD acquaintance unforgotten,
Though you may be “ugly brutes”—
Though your leather’s cracked and rotten,
Worn-out pair o…
Till All the Bad Things Came Untrue
Till All the Bad Things Came Untrue
BY blacksoil plains burned grey with drought
Where desert shrubs and grasses grow,
Along the Land of Furthest Out
They Can Only Drag You Down
They Can Only Drag You Down
Leader, poet, singer, artist, who have struggled long and won,
Though the climbing is behind you, now the battle has begun,
S…
The Wreck Of The `Derry Castle'
The Wreck Of The `Derry Castle'
Day of ending for beginnings!
Ocean hath another innings,
Ocean hath another score;
And the surges sing his w…
The Way of the World
The Way of the World
When fairer faces turn from me,
And gayer friends grow cold,
And I have lost through poverty
The friendship bought with gold; …
The Women of the Town
The Women of the Town
It is up from out the alleys, from the alleys dark and vile—
It is up from out the alleys I have struggled for a while—
Just to bre…
The Water Lily
The Water Lily
A lonely young wife
In her dreaming discerns
A lily-decked pool
With a border of ferns,
And a beautiful child,
With butt…
The Waving of the Red
The Waving of the Red
It is a sad and cruel fate the country’s coming to,
And there’s no use in striking, ‘so what are we to do?’
“I know what we could d…
The Wander-Light
The Wander-Light
And they heard the tent-poles clatter,
And the fly in twain was torn –
'Tis the soiled rag of a tatter
Of the tent where I was bor…
The Watch on the Kerb
The Watch on the Kerb
Night-Lights are falling;
Girl of the street,
Go to your calling
If you would eat.
Lamplight and starlight
And mo…
The Voice from Over Yonder
The Voice from Over Yonder
“Did she care as much as I did
When our paths of Fate divided?
Was the love, then, all onesided—
Did she understand or c…
The Vanguard [1]
The Vanguard [1]
While the crippled cruisers stagger where the blind horizon dips,
And the ocean ooze is rising round the sunken battle-ships,
While the …