Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Talbragar

Talbragar


Jack Denver died on Talbragar when Christmas Eve began,
And there was sorrow round the place, for Denver was a man;
Jack Denver’s wife bo…

404
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

That Great Waiting Silence

That Great Waiting Silence

Where shall we go for prophecy? Where shall we go for proof?
The holiday street is crowded, pavement, window and roof;
Band an…

196
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Take It Fightin’

Take It Fightin’

When you’ve got no chance at all,
Take it fightin’.
When you’re driven to the wall,
Take it fightin’.


There are …

174
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Sweethearts Wait on Every Shore

Sweethearts Wait on Every Shore

SHE SITS beside the tinted tide,
That’s reddened by the tortured sand;
And through the East, to ocean wide,
A vesse…

203
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Stand by the Engines

Stand by the Engines

On the moonlighted decks there are children at play,
While smoothly the steamer is holding her way;
And the old folks are chatting o…

288
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Success

Success


Did you see that man riding past,
With shoulders bowed with care?
There’s failure in his eyes to last,
And in his heart despair.

273
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Somewhere Up In Queensland

Somewhere Up In Queensland

He's somewhere up in Queensland,
The old folks used to say;
He’s somewhere up in Queensland,
The people say to-day.

258
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Song of the Old Bullock-Driver

Song of the Old Bullock-Driver

Far back in the days when the blacks used to ramble
In long single file ’neath the evergreen tree,
The wool-teams in seaso…

263
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Skaal

Skaal


While they struggle on exhausted,
While they plough through bog and flood,
While they drag their sick and wounded
Where the tracks are …

257
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Since the Cities are the Cities

Since the Cities are the Cities

FOOLS can parrot-cry the prophet when the proof is close at hand,
And the blind can see the danger when the foe is in the land!…

268
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Shadows Before

Shadows Before

"Like clouds o'er the South are the nations who reign
On fair islands that we would command;
But clouds that are darker and denser than th…

292
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Shearers Dream

Shearers Dream

O I dreamt I shore in a shearing shed and it was a dream of joy
For every one of the rouseabouts was a girl dressed up as a boy
Dressed up…

242
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Seaweed, Tussock and Fern

Seaweed, Tussock and Fern

Emblems of storm and danger,
Spindrift and mountain stern,
Plants that welcome the stranger—
Seaweed, tussock, and fern. …

212
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Send Round the Hat

Send Round the Hat

Now this is the creed from the Book of the Bush –
Should be simple and plain to a dunce:
"If a man’s in a hole you must pass round the…

291
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Said the Kaiser to the Spy

Said the Kaiser to the Spy

“Now tell me what can England do?”
Said the Kaiser to the Spy.
“She can do nought, your Majesty—
You rule the sea and sk…

278
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Say Goodbye when your Chum is Married

Say Goodbye when your Chum is Married

Now this is a rhyme that might well be carried
Gummed in your hat till the end of things:
Say Good-bye when your ch…

245
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Sacred to the Memory of “Unknown”

Sacred to the Memory of “Unknown”

Oh, the wild black swans fly westward still,
While the sun goes down in glory—
And away o’er lonely plain and hill

141
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Robbie's Statue

Robbie's Statue

Grown tired of mourning for my sins—
And brooding over merits—
The other night with bothered brow
I went amongst the spirits;

249
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Riding Round the Lines

Riding Round the Lines

Dust and smoke against the sunrise out where grim disaster lurks
And a broken sky-line looming like unfinished railway works,
And …

189
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Republican Pioneers

Republican Pioneers

We're marching along, we're gath'ring strong'
We place on our right reliance,
We fling in the air, for all who care,
Our first …

237
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Queen Hilda of Virland

Queen Hilda of Virland

PART I
Queen Hilda rode along the lines,
And she was young and fair;
And forward on her shoulders fell
The heavy braid…

257
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Reedy River

Reedy River

Ten miles down Reedy River
A pool of water lies,
And all the year it mirrors
The changes in the skies,
And in that pool's broad b…

233
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Peter Anderson And Co.

Peter Anderson And Co.

He had offices in Sydney, not so many years ago,
And his shingle bore the legend `Peter Anderson and Co.',
But his real name was C…

248
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Possum A Lay of New Chumland

Possum A Lay of New Chumland

SO YER trav’lin’ for yer pleasure while yer writin’ for the press?
An’ yer huntin’ arter “copy”?—well, I’ve heer’d o’ that. I gues…

236