Tell Summer That I Died

John Shaw Neilson 1872 (Penola, South Australia) – 1942 (Melbourne, Victoria)



When he was old and thin
And knew not night or day
He would sit up to say
Something of the fire within.
How woefully his chin
Moved so slowly as he tried
Some lusty word to say:
Tell Summer that I died.

When gladness sweeps the land,
And to the white sky
Cool butterflies go by,
And sheep in shadow stand;
When Love, the old command,
Turns every hate aside,
In the unstinted days
Tell Summer that I died.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 24, 2023

24 sec read
66

Quick analysis:

Scheme abbaacbC deeddcxC
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 397
Words 82
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8

John Shaw Neilson

John Shaw Neilson was an Australian poet. Slightly built, for most of his life he worked as a labourer, fruit-picking, clearing scrub, navvying and working in quarries, and, after 1928, working as a messenger with the Country Roads Board in Melbourne. he died when he was 70 years old. more…

All John Shaw Neilson poems | John Shaw Neilson Books

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