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Library / Literature & Fiction

In the Days When the World Was Wide, and Other Verses

by Henry Lawson

Pages
about 104
Category
Literature & Fiction
Language
English
Reading time
1.9 h at 250 wpm
Start readingThe whole book, as cards or one word at a time. 63 min at 450 wpm in Read mode.

From the opening

Most of the verses contained in this volume were first published in the Sydney 'Bulletin'; others in the Brisbane 'Boomerang', Sydney 'Freeman's Journal', 'Town and Country Journal', 'Worker', and 'New Zealand Mail', whose editors and proprietors I desire to thank for past kindnesses and for present courtesy in granting me the right of reproduction in book form.

'In the Days When the World was Wide' was written in Maoriland and some of the other verses in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.

The dates of original publication are given in the Table of Contents. Those undated are now printed for the first time.

Old Mate! In the gusty old weather, When our hopes and our troubles were new, In the years spent in wearing out leather, I found you unselfish and true -- I have gathered these verses together For the sake of our friendship and you.

You may think for awhile, and with reason, Though still with a kindly regret, That I've left it full late in the season To prove I remember you yet; But you'll never judge me by their treason Who profit by friends -- and forget.

I remember, Old Man, I remember -- The tracks that we followed are clear -- The jovial last nights of December, The solemn first days of the year, Long tramps through the clearings and timber, Short partings on platform and pier.

I can still feel the spirit that bore us, And often the old stars will shine -- I remember the last spree in chorus For the sake of that other Lang Syne, When the tracks lay divided before us, Your path through the future and mine.

Through the frost-wind that cut like whip-lashes, Through the ever-blind haze of the drought -- And in fancy at times by the flashes Of light in the darkness of doubt -- I have followed the tent poles and ashes Of camps that we moved further out.

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