After All

Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)




The brooding ghosts of Australian night have gone from the bush and town;
My spirit revives in the morning breeze,
  though it died when the sun went down;
The river is high and the stream is strong,
  and the grass is green and tall,
And I fain would think that this world of ours is a good world after all.
 
The light of passion in dreamy eyes, and a page of truth well read,
The glorious thrill in a heart grown cold of the spirit I thought was dead,
A song that goes to a comrade's heart, and a tear of pride let fall --
And my soul is strong! and the world to me is a grand world after all!
 
Let our enemies go by their old dull tracks,
  and theirs be the fault or shame
(The man is bitter against the world who has only himself to blame);
Let the darkest side of the past be dark, and only the good recall;
For I must believe that the world, my dear, is a kind world after all.
 
It well may be that I saw too plain, and it may be I was blind;
But I'll keep my face to the dawning light,
  though the devil may stand behind!
Though the devil may stand behind my back, I'll not see his shadow fall,
But read the signs in the morning stars of a good world after all.
 
Rest, for your eyes are weary, girl -- you have driven the worst away --
The ghost of the man that I might have been is gone from my heart to-day;
We'll live for life and the best it brings till our twilight shadows fall;
My heart grows brave, and the world, my girl, is a good world after all.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 10, 2023

1:31 min read
186

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXAXBB CCBB XDDBB EXEBB FFBB
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 1,474
Words 300
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 4, 5, 5, 4

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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