[Editor: This poem by C. J. Dennis was published in The Singing Garden (1935).]
The Dusky Wood-Swallow
Surely must you know me,
Friendly and content;
All my actions show me
Freely confident;
With my band of toilers,
When the blue days smile;
Little Jacky Martin
Come to stay a while.
Every town and village
Knows me; every farm,
Mine no wish to pillage,
Mine no will to harm;
Busy in the orchard,
My pest-destroying band;
Little Jacky Martin
Come to lend a hand.
Suddenly appearing
In far forest land —
When you’ve cut a clearing,
Lo, I am at hand,
Wheeling, soaring, floating,
Where the new fields bask;
Little Jacky Martin
Come to aid the task.
In the chilly weather
See us in the trees,
Huddled close together
Like the swarming bees.
A-wing again and toiling
When the chill days end;
Little Jacky Martin,
Everybody’s friend.
Source:
C. J. Dennis, The Singing Garden, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1935, pages 101-102
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