There’s nothing here sublime,
But just a roving rhyme,
Run off to pass the time,
With nought titanic in.
The theme that it supports,
And, though it treats of quarts,
It’s bare of golden thoughts —
It’s just a pannikin.
I think it’s rather hard
That each Australian bard —
Each wan, poetic card —
With thoughts galvanic in
His fiery thought alight,
In wild aerial flight,
Will sit him down and write
About a pannikin.
He makes some new-chum fare
From out his English lair
To hunt the native bear,
That curious mannikin;
And then the times get bad
That wandering English lad
Writes out a message sad
Upon his pannikin:
“O mother, think of me
Beneath the wattle tree”
(For you may bet that he
Will drag the wattle in)
“O mother, here I think
That I shall have to sink,
There ain’t a single drink
The water-bottle in.”
The dingo homeward hies,
The sooty crows uprise
And caw their fierce surprise
A tone Satanic in;
And bearded bushmen tread
Around the sleeper’s head —
“See here — the bloke is dead!
Now where’s his pannikin?”
They read his words and weep,
And lay him down to sleep
Where wattle branches sweep,
A style mechanic in;
And, reader, that’s the way
The poets of today
Spin out their little lay
About a pannikin.
(Andrew Barton Paterson)
More Poetry from Andrew Barton Paterson:
Andrew Barton Paterson Poems based on Topics: Running, Time, Sleep, Mothers, Literature, Poets- The Lost Drink (Andrew Barton Paterson Poems)
- The Old Australian Ways (Andrew Barton Paterson Poems)
- The City of Dreadful Thirst (Andrew Barton Paterson Poems)
- The Ballad of G. R. Dibbs (Andrew Barton Paterson Poems)
- Saltbush Bill (Andrew Barton Paterson Poems)
- The Gundaroo Bullock (Andrew Barton Paterson Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Time Poems, Sleep Poems, Mothers Poems, Literature Poems, Running Poems, Poets PoemsBased on Keywords: treats, sleeper, aerial, caw, titanic, bloke, mechanic, bushmen, uprise, sooty, supports