The widow and the orphan That pray for ten per cent, God bless the thoughtful islands And save his wife and daughters From the workhouse and the street! On church and square and market Asleep amid the yuccas The city takes her ease Till twilight brings the land-wind Day long the diamond weather, The smell of goats and incense And the mule-bells tinkling through. Day long the warder ocean That keeps us from our kin, And once a month our levee When the English mail comes in. You'll find us up and waiting To treat you at the bar; For they are English ground. We sail o' nights to England And join our smiling Boards; Ah God! One sniff of England - Our towns of wasted honour Our streets of lost delight! How stands the old Lord Warden? Are Dover's cliffs still white? THE SONG OF THE BANJO 1894 You could n't pack a Broadwood half a mile — You must n't leave a fiddle in the damp- I travel with the cooking-pots and pails I'm sandwiched 'tween the coffee and the pork And when the dusty column checks and tails, You should hear me spur the rearguard to a walk! With my "Pilly-willy-winky-winky popp! [Oh, it's any tune that comes into my head!] In the silence of the camp before the fight, When it's good to make your will and say your prayer, With my " Tumpa-tumpa-tumpa-tum-pa tump!" In the desert where the dung-fed camp-smoke curled. There was never voice before us till I led our lonely chorus, I the war-drum of the White Man round the world! By the bitter road the Younger Son must tread, In the silence of the herder's hut alone With my "Tunk-a tunka-tunka-tunka-tunk!” grow near and So I rowel 'em afresh towards the Devil and the Flesh, In desire of many marvels over sea, Where the new-raised tropic city sweats and roars, He is blooded to the open and the sky, He is taken in a snare that shall not fail, He shall hear me singing strongly, till he die, Like the shouting of a backstay in a gale. With my "Hya! Heeya! Heeya! Hullah! Haul!" [Oh the green that thunders aft along the deck!] Are you sick o' towns and men? You must sign and sail again, For it's "Johnny Bowlegs, pack your kit and trek!" Through the gorge that gives the stars at noon-day clear With my "Tinka-tinka-tinka-tinka-tink!" [Oh the axe has cleared the mountain, croup and crest!] And we ride the iron stallions down to drink, Through the cañons to the waters of the West! And the tunes that means so much to you alone Common tunes that make you choke and blow your nose, And the merry play that drops you, when you're done, With my "Plunka-lunka-lunka-lunka-lunk!" Here's a trifle on account of pleasure past, Ere the wit that made you win gives you eyes to see your sin And the heavier repentance at the last! Let the organ moan her sorrow to the roof - I have told the naked stars the Grief of Man! When I stand to jeer the fatted Soul of Things, With my [Is it naught to you that hear and pass me by?] But the word the word is mine, when the order moves the line And the lean, locked ranks go roaring down to die! The grandam of my grandam was the Lyre [O the blue below the little fisher-huts!] That the Stealer stooping beachward filled with fire, By the wisdom of the centuries I speak To the tune of yestermorn I set the truth I, the joy of life unquestioned I, the Greek- With my "Tinka-tinka-tinka-tinka-tink!" [What d'ye lack, my noble masters? What d'ye lack?] So I draw the world together link by link: Yea, from Delos up to Limerick and back! |