[Editor: This poem by Louisa Lawson was published in “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems (1905).]
Lines Written During a Night Spent in a Bush Inn.
I wish now this heart with its pleading refrain
Would freeze and be still, then this tumult of pain
That mortals call living would end, and the cast
Of life be as nought but a pestilence past.
This robe I am wearing, as white as a cloud,
With neatly sewn border, would do for a shroud,
And thus I’d be ready, pain-shriven and meet,
With only to straighten my hands and my feet.
No sign would I make when Death’s hand on me lay,
No sob would I utter when passing away;
For those in the house need the rest, all too short,
To heal the fatigue that a hard day has brought.
Out on the verandah, asleep on the floor,
With weary feet blistered, and aching and sore,
The tramp dreams of home with his head on his swag,
Nor recks he of drought, or the dry water-bag.
And soundly asleep, with a sun-blistered face,
The drover now dreads not the “breaks” he must chase.
But he must be up at the first peep of light
To “fetch up” the yards for his cattle at night.
And while all the sheep in the hurdles are snug
The black boy must rest on his old ’possum rug.
In dust and in heat he has shouted all day,
And sunrise must see him again on his way.
I looked in the face of Death once, when alone,
And met the grim King without shudder or moan,
So I will not shiver nor shriek with affright
If I have to go with him into the night.
And then they would take me to where I love best,
To where I know well that my spirit would rest,
Where gaudy birds chatter and wild cherries wave,
And sunset would throw a red haze o’er my grave —
Away on the gap, ’neath the big kurrajong
That stretches its branches the granites among,
And forms with its shelter a natural tomb
With rest in its stillness, and peace in its gloom.
And some one among them, with grief in his breast,
Might register roughly the place of my rest
By carving in letters cut deep on its bole
These plain words: “A Woman. May God rest her soul.”
In ground that is hallowed let happy folk lie,
But give me a grave in the bush when I die.
For have I not lived, loved, and suffered alone?
Thus making it meet that my grave be unknown.
* * * *
The sound of the stockwhip away on the hill.
Ah, God! It is day, and I’m suffering still!
Source:
Louisa Lawson, “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems, Sydney: Dawn Office, [1905], pp. 27-30
Editor’s notes:
This poem was referred to in the Contents list as “A Night in a Bush Inn”, although the poem is actually entitled “Lines Written During a Night Spent in a Bush Inn”.
bole = the trunk of a tree (may also refer to clays of various colors which are used to create pigments, or a red-brown color made from those clays)
kurrajong = a genus of 31 species of trees and large shrubs (Brachychiton, also known as Bottletree), common in Eastern Australia
meet = (archaic) suitable, fit, or proper; also, something having the proper dimensions, or being made to fit; can also mean mild or gentle
’neath = (vernacular) beneath
nought = (an alternative spelling of “naught”) nothing; zero; failure, without result; lost, ruined (older meanings are: ruined, useless, worthless; morally bad, wicked)
o’er = (archaic) over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)
’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
reck = to have a care or pay heed to something
shriven = past tense of shrive: to free someone from guilt; (the action of a priest) to hear someone’s confession, impose a penance, and give absolution; to confess one’s guilt or sins and receive absolution
shroud = a layer of material which covers, surrounds, or enwraps something; in the context of death, a burial shroud (a cloth or garment used for wrapping a corpse)
Leave a Reply