Saturday, November 28, 2009

The Heart of the Swag; Henry Lawson; Australian Poetry.

The Heart of the Swag; by Henry Lawson; written 1905.

Oh, the track through the scrub groweth ever more dreary,
And lower and lower his grey head doth bow;
For the swagman is old and the swagman is weary—
He’s been tramping for over a century now.
He tramps in a worn-out old “side spring” and “blucher,”
His hat is a ruin, his coat is a rag,
And he carries forever, far into the future,
The key of his life in the core of his swag.
There are old-fashioned portraits of girls who are grannies,
There are tresses of dark hair whose owner’s are grey;
There are faded old letters from Marys and Annies,
And Toms, Dicks, and Harrys, dead many a day.
There are broken-heart secrets and bitter-heart reasons—
They are sewn in a canvas or calico bag,
And wrapped up in oilskin through dark rainy seasons,
And he carries them safe in the core of his swag.

There are letters that should have been burnt in the past time,
For he reads them alone, and a devil it brings;
There were farewells that should have been said for the last time,
For, forever and ever the love for her springs.
But he keeps them all precious, and keeps them in order,
And no matter to man how his footsteps may drag,
There’s a friend who will find, when he crosses the Border,
That the Heart of the Man’s in the Heart of his swag.

The grey leaves of a River Gum along the Darling.


3 comments:

Arija said...

Lovely Titania, I so love Henry Lawson. We were at hos birthplace recently.

Ron de Weijze said...

I got a link to your page through Google Alert, for the string "matter to man". I noticed this poem exactly expresses the synthetic mind (as my prof called it) I know I have too. Thx.
http://twitter.com/RonCdeWeijze/statuses/6136684372

diane b said...

He wrote some great poems. Julie from "Sydney Eye" blog did a post about him. I was surprised to hear he was an alcoholic and treated his wife poorly. He did some times in Gaol and lunatic assylum.
http://sydney-eye.blogspot.com/2009/11/catch-step-103.html
Sorry to hear about your sore leg. It must be frustrating not to be very mobile. I hope it can be made better.