Said Grenfell to my spirit, “You’ve been writing very free
Of the charms of other places, and you don’t remember me.
You have claimed another native place and think it’s Nature’s law,
Since you never paid a visit to a town you never saw:
So you sing of Mudgee Mountains, willowed stream and grassy flat:
But I put a charm upon you and you won’t get over that.”
O said Grenfell to my spirit, ” Though you write of breezy peaks,
Golden Gullies, wattle sidings, and the pools in she-oak creeks,
Of the place your kin were born in and the childhood that you knew,
And your father’s distant Norway (though it has some claim on you),
Though you sing of dear old Mudgee and the home on Pipeclay Flat,
You were born on Grenfell goldfield – and you can’t get over that .”
(Henry Lawson)
More Poetry from Henry Lawson:
Henry Lawson Poems based on Topics: Home, Place, Law & Regulation, Childhood, Charm- Ruth (Henry Lawson Poems)
- Mostly Slavonic (Henry Lawson Poems)
- With Dickens (Henry Lawson Poems)
- One Hundred and Three (Henry Lawson Poems)
- The Ballad of the Elder Son (Henry Lawson Poems)
- Lily (Henry Lawson Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Place Poems, Home Poems, Law & Regulation Poems, Charm Poems, Childhood PoemsBased on Keywords: breezy, wattle, norway, gullies, creeks, willowed, she-oak, sidings, mudgee, pipeclay, goldfield