Forbidden Fruit

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)



Eight days to beer! A sigh sweeps thro' the nation
Sweeps like a gale from 'Frisco to New York.
('Say!  But it's tough, this long anticipation.
Oh boy!  I'm rarin' to get at that cork!')
Six days to beer!  Was ever waiting bleaker?
And how the dull days drag their slow length by!
('Aw, say!  Just let me at a foamin' beaker!
But, nothin' doin'.  I'm a legal guy.')

Four days to beer!  How slowly Time is creeping,
Turning the pages with a laggard hand.
('Say, honey, dope me so that I stay sleeping
Until the glorious Sixth dawns o'er the land.')
Two days to beer! ('Shucks, I can't wait much longer!')
One day to beer!  To luscious, legal beer!
('Ah, hold me, honey!  help me to be stronger....
Now, attaboy!  The glorious Sixth is here!!..')

'Here's how! ... Say!  What's the stunt?  This stuff is phoney!
It aint got no kick!  It palls!  It disappoints!
It's just the stuff that guys like Al Capone
An' such tough eggs sell in speakeasy joints!
Here's me, been lookin' for a time right regal,
Lickin' me lips an' rarin' to begin...
Sure, this is beer, all right; but now it's legal.
It don't taste half so good... Say, pass the gin'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 13, 2023

1:09 min read
75

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCD EFEFCXCX XGXGHIHI
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,121
Words 215
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis, better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet known for his humorous poems, especially "The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke", published in the early 20th century. Though Dennis's work is less well known today, his 1915 publication of The Sentimental Bloke sold 65,000 copies in its first year, and by 1917 he was the most prosperous poet in Australian history. Together with Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson, both of whom he had collaborated with, he is often considered among Australia's three most famous poets. While attributed to Lawson by 1911, Dennis later claimed he himself was the 'laureate of the larrikin'. When he died at the age of 61, the Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons suggested he was destined to be remembered as the 'Australian Robert Burns'. more…

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