The Ground Thrush [poem by C. J. Dennis]

[Editor: This poem by C. J. Dennis was published in The Singing Garden (1935).]

The Ground Thrush

I’m a business man; and I can’t spare time
For this fluting and fussing and frilling.
The song of my cousin may be sublime,
But I never have found it filling.
So I run and I dig and I dig and I run,
And I’m at it as soon as the day’s begun,
And I never knock off till the light is done
Over the garden and lawn and tilling.

I’m a business man on my business bent,
And I’ve never an hour of leisure.
I have little regard for sentiment,
And I fritter no time in pleasure.
But I dig and I run and I run and I dig;
And you never see me at my ease on a twig,
Prinking and posing in holiday rig
Or trilling a tuneful measure.

I’m a business man, and I’ve much to do;
So the day’s work must be speeded.
For time is fleeting and worms are few —
I’ve never had all I needed.
So I run and I dig and I dig and I run
From sun to shadow, from shadow to sun,
I’m a business man, and the world I shun;
So I live and I die unheeded.

Source:
C. J. Dennis, The Singing Garden, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1935, pages 133-134

Editor’s notes:
prink = preen, primp; to dress or groom oneself in a showy and vain manner