[Editor: This poem by Barcroft Boake was published in Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems (1897).]
Where the Dead Men Lie
Out on the wastes of the Never Never —
That’s where the dead men lie!
There where the heat-waves dance for ever —
That’s where the dead men lie!
That’s where the Earth’s loved sons are keeping
Endless tryst: not the west wind sweeping
Feverish pinions can wake their sleeping —
Out where the dead men lie!
Where brown Summer and Death have mated —
That’s where the dead men lie!
Loving with fiery lust unsated —
That’s where the dead men lie!
Out where the grinning skulls bleach whitely
Under the saltbush sparkling brightly;
Out where the wild dogs chorus nightly —
That’s where the dead men lie!
Deep in the yellow, flowing river —
That’s where the dead men lie!
Under the banks where the shadows quiver —
That’s where the dead men lie!
Where the platypus twists and doubles,
Leaving a train of tiny bubbles;
Rid at last of their earthly troubles —
That’s where the dead men lie!
East and backward pale faces turning —
That’s how the dead men lie!
Gaunt arms stretched with a voiceless yearning —
That’s how the dead men lie!
Oft in the fragrant hush of nooning
Hearing again their mothers’ crooning,
Wrapt for aye in a dreamful swooning —
That’s how the dead men lie!
Only the hand of Night can free them —
That’s when the dead men fly!
Only the frightened cattle see them —
See the dead men go by!
Cloven hoofs beating out one measure,
Bidding the stockman know no leisure —
That’s when the dead men take their pleasure!
That’s when the dead men fly!
Ask, too, the never-sleeping drover:
He sees the dead pass by;
Hearing them call to their friends — the plover,
Hearing the dead men cry;
Seeing their faces stealing, stealing,
Hearing their laughter pealing, pealing,
Watching their grey forms wheeling, wheeling
Round where the cattle lie!
Strangled by thirst and fierce privation —
That’s how the dead men die!
Out on Moneygrub’s farthest station —
That’s how the dead men die!
Hardfaced greybeards, youngsters callow;
Some mounds cared for, some left fallow;
Some deep down, yet others shallow;
Some having but the sky.
Looks with complacent eye
Down at his watch-chain, eighteen-carat —
There, in his club, hard by:
Recks not that every link is stamped with
Names of the men whose limbs are cramped with
Too long lying in grave mould, camped with
Death where the dead men lie.
Source:
Barcroft Boake, Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems, Sydney (NSW): Angus and Robertson, 1897, pp. 140-142
Also published in:
The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 19 December 1891, p. 7, column 4 [by “Surcingle”; in the “Christmas Number of the Bulletin”]
The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 21 May 1892, p. 7, column 4 [by Barcroft Henry Boake; does not include the 8th (last) stanza; “Moneygrub” was removed from the 7th stanza — “Out on Moneygrub’s farthest station” was changed to “Out on the farthest stretching station”]
Relevant notes from the “Notes to poems” section in this book:
31. WHERE THE DEAD MEN LIE, p. 140. — Printed in The Bulletin, December 19, 1891. Signed ‘Surcingle.’ The title in MS. is ‘Where the Dead Lie.’
Editor’s notes:
There were some significant differences in the versions of this poem published in The Bulletin in its issues of 19 December 1891 and 21 May 1892, and in the book published in 1897.
aye = always, forever
callow = immature or inexperienced
dreamful = full of dreams; dreamy; the maximum amount of something that someone can dream about
fallow = farmland which has been ploughed and harrowed, but not sown with seed for a period (often a year) so that the soil can regain or improve its fertility or increase its quality; farmland which is usually tilled being left idle; farmland left unplanted so as to avoid surplus production (can also refer to: something which is dormant, inactive, idle; a period of time in which nothing or very little happens; a female pig which is not pregnant; something which is light yellowish-brown, pale brown, or reddish yellow in color) [in this poem, “fallow” means something not looked after, something not cared for]
greybeard = an old man with a grey beard (a man who is so old that his beard has turned grey); a wise old man, a sage
hard by = beside, close by, close to, in close proximity to, nearby, near to, or next to something
Moneygrub = a personification of a money-grubber, i.e. someone who puts money above almost everything else, someone who is always looking to save money (especially doing so at the expense of others, or in a morally disreputable fashion), and who likes to save money or obtain money in petty ways
Never Never = remote and isolated sparsely-inhabited desert country in Australia (may be rendered with or without a hyphen: Never Never, Never-Never)
oft = (archaic) often
pinion = a bird’s wing; in more specific usage, the outer section of a bird’s wing; in broader usage, “pinions” refers to the wings of a bird (“pinion” can also refer specifically to a feather, especially a flight feather, or a quill)
reck = to have a care or pay heed to something
station = a large rural holding used for raising livestock, usually sheep or cattle (a pastoral property); can also refer to the principal homestead and main business centre of a pastoral property
See: “Station (Australian agriculture)”, Wikipedia
steal = to move quietly, stealthily, surreptitiously, or unobtrusively (especially regarding entering or leaving a place or area); to creep; to move about in a furtive or secretive manner; to move in a gradual or slow manner
unsated = (archaic) unsatisfied
wrapt = archaic form of “wrapped” (to have enclosed or enveloped something, such as wrapping up an item with cloth or paper)
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