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Said Hanrahan [poem by John O’Brien]

9 May 2012 · 4 Comments

[Editor: This poem by John O’Brien was published in Around the Boree Log and Other Verses, 1921.]

Said Hanrahan

“We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
In accents most forlorn,
Outside the church, ere Mass began,
One frosty Sunday morn.

The congregation stood about,
Coat-collars to the ears,
And talked of stock, and crops, and drought,
As it had done for years.

“It’s looking crook,” said Daniel Croke;
“Bedad, it’s cruke, me lad,
For never since the banks went broke
Has seasons been so bad.”

“It’s dry, all right,” said young O’Neil,
With which astute remark
He squatted down upon his heel
And chewed a piece of bark.

And so around the chorus ran
“It’s keepin’ dry, no doubt.”
“We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
“Before the year is out.”

“The crops are done; ye’ll have your work
To save one bag of grain;
From here way out to Back-o’-Bourke
They’re singin’ out for rain.

“They’re singin’ out for rain,” he said,
“And all the tanks are dry.”
The congregation scratched its head,
And gazed around the sky.

“There won’t be grass, in any case,
Enough to feed an ass;
There’s not a blade on Casey’s place
As I came down to Mass.”

“If rain don’t come this month,” said Dan,
And cleared his throat to speak —
“We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
“If rain don’t come this week.”

A heavy silence seemed to steal
On all at this remark;
And each man squatted on his heel,
And chewed a piece of bark.

“We want an inch of rain, we do,”
O’Neil observed at last;
But Croke “maintained” we wanted two
To put the danger past.

“If we don’t get three inches, man,
Or four to break this drought,
We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
“Before the year is out.”

In God’s good time down came the rain;
And all the afternoon
On iron roof and window-pane
It drummed a homely tune.

And through the night it pattered still,
And lightsome, gladsome elves
On dripping spout and window-sill
Kept talking to themselves.

It pelted, pelted all day long,
A-singing at its work,
Till every heart took up the song
Way out to Back-o’-Bourke.

And every creek a banker ran,
And dams filled overtop;
“We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
“If this rain doesn’t stop.”

And stop it did, in God’s good time;
And spring came in to fold
A mantle o’er the hills sublime
Of green and pink and gold.

And days went by on dancing feet,
With harvest-hopes immense,
And laughing eyes beheld the wheat
Nid-nodding o’er the fence.

And, oh, the smiles on every face,
As happy lad and lass
Through grass knee-deep on Casey’s place
Went riding down to Mass.

While round the church in clothes genteel
Discoursed the men of mark,
And each man squatted on his heel,
And chewed his piece of bark.

“There’ll be bush-fires for sure, me man,
There will, without a doubt;
We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
“Before the year is out.”



Published in:
John O’Brien. Around the Boree Log and Other Verses, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1921

Editor’s notes:
bedad = an Irish exclamation, a euphemism for “By God”
cruke = presumably “crook”, being unwell or not good (such as in the Australian colloquialism “Things are crook in Tallarook”)

This poem was published in the The Euroa Advertiser with the comment: “The following humorous verses are copied from “The Catholic Press,” and were contributed by an erstwhile Tocumwal parish priest, who writes under the name of “John O’Brien”:” [see: “Said Hanrahan”, The Euroa Advertiser (Euroa, Vic.), Friday 29 August 1919, page 4]

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: Around the Boree Log and Other Verses (John O’Brien 1921), Editor’s notes, John O'Brien (1878-1952) (author), poem, recommended poetry, SourceIACLibrary

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Peter Simons says

    27 February 2021 at 21:00

    Hello, first learnt this and took some basic greater background of the ethos of this poem in 1957, not at school here in Australia but in England. PS Prep school, generously titled, Lord St Knivetts, in Stanweel Village. Greater London.
    Being born in Australia and having spent two years, in the aforementiond school, but back home here in Australia,I had a very great English teacher and Master in same, a Mr Norburry.
    Whom asked us all 1st level HCS students in English to visit this distinctive poem.
    This poem, still displays and examines our culture of non acceptance of the way the geographical impacts of rain, drought, and subsequent impacts from fire and flood affect Australia. And also the now effective results of not listening to a concept of Gya. and this planet as a living enity.
    It is still very pertinent today, aka Climate Change.
    Thanks for listening and as “Hanarahan Said”
    We all be rooned.
    Regards,
    Peter

    Reply
  2. Oldavid says

    22 September 2021 at 21:35

    Ah bin dere, done dat. Good ole Hanrahan has myopia by the short and curlies. Unfortunately, a bit of myopia has been transported into the realm of omniscience in the hallowed halls and ivory towers of academia and politicia.

    We’ll all be rooned whatever happens according to the “experts” who’ve never been near any kind of productive activity.

    Reply
  3. Rob French says

    5 March 2022 at 16:19

    I’m one of the water engineer “experts” who are warning primary producers that you can be ‘rooned’ by Australia’s climate and weather which are so much more variable than on other continents. It’s not your fault. We have recently got onto ENSO which allows us to forecast dry, wet and ordinary rainfall spells so you can plan stocking rates and plantings. We are trying to find out whether floods can not just be predicted (what chance?) but forecast (when?). A suggestion has just into NSW Rural Fire Service for a cheap, water-less pasture fire killer device. Mother Nature doesn’t tell us everything we want to know quickly but we are busting our buns for you bushies. Where you will ‘roon’ yourself is if you think you and your bank can hang on through a really long (10-year?) dry spell on marginal country.

    Reply
    • Mike Bryant says

      11 November 2022 at 01:15

      “Where you will ‘roon’ yourself is if you think you and your bank can hang on through a really long (10-year?) dry spell on marginal country.”
      Interesting, we have regular 10-year droughts in Texas. If we had listened to the water “experts” we would have all moved away… the trend in immigration is UP. As long as we keep building dams, I’ll bet on the people that keep working everyday no matter what the weather is doing.

      Reply

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