[Editor: This poem by Barcroft Boake was published in Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems (1897).]
The Digger’s Song
Scrape the bottom of the hole: gather up the stuff!
Fossick in the crannies, lest you leave a grain behind!
Just another shovelful and that’ll be enough —
Now we’ll take it to the bank and see what we can find …
Give the dish a twirl around!
Let the water swirl around!
Gently let it circulate — there’s music in the swish
And the tinkle of the gravel,
As the pebbles quickly travel
Around in merry circles on the bottom of the dish.
Ah, if man could wash his life — if he only could!
Panning off the evil deeds, keeping but the good:
What a mighty lot of diggers’ dishes would be sold!
Though I fear the heap of tailings would be greater than the gold …
Give the dish a twirl around!
Let the water swirl around!
Man’s the sport of circumstance however he may wish:
Fortune! are you there now?
Answer to my prayer now —
Drop a half-ounce nugget in the bottom of the dish.
Gently let the water lap! Keep the corners dry!
That’s about the place the gold will generally stay.
What was that bright particle that just then caught my eye?
I fear me by the look of things ’twas only yellow clay …
Just another twirl around!
Let the water swirl around!
That’s the way we rob the river of its golden fish …
What’s that? … Can’t we snare a one?
Don’t say that there’s ne’er a one! …
Bah! there’s not a colour in the bottom of the dish!
Source:
Barcroft Boake, Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems, Sydney (NSW): Angus and Robertson, 1897, pp. 65-66
Also published in:
The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 31 October 1891, p. 22, column 1 [by “Surcingle”]
The Critic (Hobart, Tas.), 17 August 1907, p. 1
The Worker (Sydney, NSW), 12 August 1909, p. 21, column 3
Westralian Worker (Kalgoorlie, WA), 27 August 1909, p. 6
The Corowa Free Press (Corowa, NSW), 24 September 1935, p. 3
The Townsville Daily Bulletin (Townsville, Qld.), 3 June 1952, p. 7
The Townsville Daily Bulletin (Townsville, Qld.), 15 July 1953, p. 5
Relevant notes from the “Notes to poems” section in this book:
14. THE DIGGER’S SONG, p 65. — Printed in The Bulletin, October 31, 1891. Signed ‘Surcingle.’
Editor’s notes:
crannie = (also spelt “cranny”) a small indentation, crevice, fissure, opening, slit, or space (especially a narrow one) in something which is solid; a square or oblong crevice or space in the wall of a house (plural: crannies)
digger = a gold digger, someone seeking gold by digging in the ground (usually referring to men); a miner; a reference to gold-seekers in general
fossick = to look for, to search; in the context of gold fields, to search for gold, especially by picking through dirt that has already been worked on
golden fish = (in the context of gold-seeking) a literary reference to gold
’twas = (archaic) a contraction of “it was”
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