Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Three Kings [1]

The Three Kings [1]

The East is dead and the West is done, and again our course lies thus
South-east by Fate and the Rising Sun where the Three Kings wai…

275
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Tracks That Lie By India

The Tracks That Lie By India

Now this is not a dismal song, like some I’ve sung of late,
When I’ve been brooding all day long about my muddled fate;

267
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Teams

The Teams

A cloud of dust on the long white road,

And the teams go creeping on
Inch by inch with the weary load;
And by the power…

286
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Stringy-Bark Tree

The Stringy-Bark Tree

There's the whitebox and pine on the ridges afar,
Where the iron-bark, blue-gum, and peppermint are;
There is many another,…

268
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Star of Australasia

The Star of Australasia

We boast no more of our bloodless flag, that rose from a nation's slime;
Better a shred of a deep-dyed rag from the storms of the…

214
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Stranded Ship: (The “Vincennes”)

The Stranded Ship: (The “Vincennes”)

’Twas the glowing log of a picnic fire where a red light should not be,
Or the curtained glow of a sick room light i…

153
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Spirits for Good

The Spirits for Good

We come with peace and reason,
We come with love and light,
To banish black self-treason
And everlasting night.

234
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Squatter, Three Cornstalks, and the Well

The Squatter, Three Cornstalks, and the Well

There was a Squatter in the land—
So runs the truthful tale I tell—
There also were three cornstalks…

197
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Soul of a Poet

The Soul of a Poet

I HAVE written, long years I have written
For the sake of my people and right,
I was true when the iron had bitten
Dee…

238
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Song of the Waste-Paper Basket

The Song of the Waste-Paper Basket

O BARD of fortune, you deem me nought
But a mark for your careless scorn.
For I am the echo-less grave of thou…

237
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Song of a Prison

The Song of a Prison

Now this is the song of a prison—a song of a gaol or jug—
A ballad of quod or of chokey, the ultimate home of the mug.
The y…

238
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Song Of Old Joe Swallow

The Song Of Old Joe Swallow

When I was up the country in the rough and early days,
I used to work along ov Jimmy Nowlett's bullick-drays;
Then th…

274
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Soldier Birds

The Soldier Birds

I mind the river from Mount Frome
To Ballanshantie’s Bridge,
The Mudgee Hills, and Buckaroo,
Lowe’s Peak, and Granite R…

251
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Sleeping Beauty

The Sleeping Beauty

“Call that a yarn!” said old Tom Pugh,
“What rot! I’ll lay my hat
I’ll sling you a yarn worth more nor two
Such pumpe…

247
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Shearers

The Shearers

No church-bell rings them from the Track,
No pulpit lights theirblindness-'
Tis hardship, drought, and homelessness
That teac…

255
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Ships that Won't Go Down

The Ships that Won't Go Down

We hear a great commotion
'Bout the ship that comes to grief,
That founders in mid-ocean,
Or is driven on a …

267
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Separation

The Separation

We knew too little of the world,
And you and I were good—
’Twas paltry things that wrecked our lives
As well I knew they w…

248
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Shame of Going Back

The Shame of Going Back

When you've come to make a fortune and you haven't made your salt,
And the reason of your failure isn't anybody's fault -

255
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Seabolt's Volunteers

The Seabolt's Volunteers

They towed the Seabolt down the stream,
And through the harbour’s mouth;
She spread her wings and sailed away
To…

257
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Secret Whisky Cure

The Secret Whisky Cure

’Tis no tale of heroism, ’tis no tale of storm and strife,
But of ordinary boozing, and of dull domestic life—
Of the ever…

299
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Scamps

The Scamps

Of home, name and wealth and ambition bereft—
We are children of fortune and luck:
They deny there’s a shred of our characters left, <…

258
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Rovers

The Rovers

Some born of homely parents
For ages settled down—
The steady generations
Of village, farm, and town:
And some of dusk…

197
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Rhyme of the Three Greybeards

The Rhyme of the Three Greybeards

He'd been for years in Sydney "a-acting of the goat",
His name was Joseph Swallow, "the Great Australian Pote",

223
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

The Rose

The Rose

We love the land when the world goes round,
And deep, deep down in her thorny ground,
Where nobody comes, and nobody knows,
We l…

328