The Watch on the Kerb

Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)



Night-Lights are falling;
Girl of the street,
Go to your calling
If you would eat.
Lamplight and starlight
And moonlight superb,
Bright hope is a farlight,
So watch on the kerb.
Watch on the kerb,
Watch on the kerb;
Hope is a farlight;
Then watch on the kerb.

Comes a man: call him —
Gone! he is vext;
Curses befall him,
Wait for the next!
Fair world and bright world,
Life still is sweet
Girl of the night-world,
Watch on the street.

Dreary the watch is:
Moon sinks from sight,
Gas only blotches
Darkness with light;
Never, Oh, never
Let courage go down;
Keep from the river,
Oh, Girl of the Town!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
103

Quick analysis:

Scheme ababcdbdDDbd ebexfbfb xcxcghgh
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 588
Words 115
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 12, 8, 8

Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson 17 June 1867 - 2 September 1922 was an Australian writer and poet Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period more…

All Henry Lawson poems | Henry Lawson Books

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