[Editor: This poem by Barcroft H. Boake was published in The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 7 May 1892.]
[An Easter Rhyme — Rather Late.]
Easter Monday in the city —
Rattle, rattle, rumble, rush;
Tom and Jerry, Nell and Kitty,
All the down-the-harbour “push,”
Little thought have they, or pity,
For a wanderer from the bush.
Shuffle feet, a merry measure,
Hurry, Jack, and find your Jill,
Let her — if it give her pleasure —
Flaunt her furbelow and frill,
Kiss her while you have the leisure,
For to-morrow brings the mill.
Go ye down the harbour, winding
’Mid the eucalypts and fern,
Respite from your troubles finding,
Kiss her, till her pale cheeks burn,
For to-morrow will the grinding
Mill-stones of the city turn.
Stunted figures, sallow faces,
Sad girls striving to be gay
In their cheap sateens and laces.
Ah! how different ’tis to-day
Where they’re going to the races —
Yonder — up Monaro way!
Light mist flecks the Murrumbidgee’s
Bosom with a silver stain,
On the trembling wire bridge is
Perched a single long-legged crane,
While the yellow, slaty ridges
Sweep up proudly from the plain.
Somebody is after horses —
Donald, Charlie or young Mac —
Suddenly his arm he tosses,
Presently you’ll hear the crack,
As the symbol of the cross is
Made on ’possum’s steaming back.
Stirling first, the Masher follows,
Ly-ee-moon and old Trump Card,
Helter-skelter through the shallows
Of the willow-shaded ford,
Up the lane and past the “gallows,”
Driven panting to the yard.
In the homestead, what a clatter;
Habits black and habits blue,
Full a dozen red lips patter:
“Who is going to ride with who?”
Mixing sandwiches and chatter,
Gloves to button, hair to “do.”
Horses stamp and stirrups jingle,
“Dash the filly! won’t she wait?”
Voices, bass and treble, mingle,
“Look sharp, May, or we’ll be late;”
How the pulses leap and tingle
As you lift her featherweight!
At the thought the heart beats quicker
Than an old Bohemian’s should,
Beating like my battered ticker
(Pawned this time, I fear, for good).
Bah! I’ll go and have a liquor
With the genial “Jimmy Wood.”
Barcroft H. Boake.
Source:
The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 7 May 1892, p. 15, column 1
Also published in:
Barcroft Boake, Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems, Sydney (NSW): Angus and Robertson, 1897, pp. 202-203 (included in the Memoir by A. G. Stephens)
Editor’s notes:
The title was placed inside square brackets in the original printing.
Bohemian = someone who is socially unconventional in appearance and/or behaviour, who lives in an informal manner, especially someone who is involved in the arts (authors, musicians, painters, poets, etc.); an artistic type who does not conform to society’s norms; can also refer to a citizen or resident of Bohemia; (archaic) a Gypsy or Romani; of or relating to a Bohemian, a group or class of Bohemians, or the Bohemian lifestyle
filly = a young female horse (especially a female horse less than four or five years old); a young woman (especially an attractive or pretty young woman)
gay = happy, joyous, carefree; well-decorated, bright, attractive (in modern times it may especially refer to a homosexual, especially a male homosexual; can also refer to something which is no good, pathetic, useless)
habit = a long loose article of clothing (e.g. a nun’s habit, a riding habit); (archaic) attire, dress; (archaic) to clothe, to dress (verb)
helter-skelter = to move fast in a confused or disorderly manner; to run or move quickly in a hasty and disorderly fashion; to act in a hurried and haphazard manner, with carelessness, disorder, or turmoil
Jimmy Wood = to have a drink with “Jimmy Wood” is to drink alone [see: Jimmy Woodser]
Jimmy Woodser = someone who drinks alone, or a drink taken alone; the phrase dates from at least the 1870s, and was notably used in the poem “Jimmy Wood” (1892), by Barcroft H. Boake, about a man who did not join in the custom of “shouting” (buying drinks for friends), and which ended with the line, “Who drinks alone — drinks toast to Jimmy Wood, sir”
Monaro = a region in the south of New South Wales
See: “Monaro (New South Wales)”, Wikipedia
Murrumbidgee = a river in New South Wales, a tributary of the Murray River
See: “Murrumbidgee River”, Wikipedia
’possum = an opossum or “possum”, a tree-dwelling marsupial species native to Australia; opossums are actually those animals of the Didelphimorphia order of marsupials (which are colloquially known as “possums”), whilst the term “possums” technically refers to those animals of the suborder Phalangeriformes, of the Diprotodontia order of marsupials; however, the two are often confused as being the same animal; the confusion arises from when Joseph Banks (the botanist with Captain Cook’s expedition) thought the Australian marsupial was an opossum, as it looked similar to the American opossum
push = a gang; historically, the term refers to a street gang; can also be used to refer to a group
sallow = having a sickly or yellowish color or hue; for people, it is especially used to describe a sallow complexion
slaty = of or relating to slate; resembling slate
See: “Slate”, Wikipedia
ticker = (slang) a watch (a portable timepiece designed for personal use, i.e. a pocket-watch, a wristwatch)
’tis = (archaic) a contraction of “it is”
ye = (archaic; dialectal) you (still in use in some places, e.g. in Cornwall, Ireland, Newfoundland, and Northern England; it can used as either the singular or plural form of “you”, although the plural form is the more common usage)
yonder = at a distance; far away
[Editor: Changed “eucalpts” to “eucalypts”.]
Leave a Reply