Sanctuary Scorned



Oh, is there not one place on earth
Where man's goodwill has gone from birth
Thro' adolescence, with its rage,
Into a kindly, mellow age
A tolerant maturity
Mayhap some tropic coral isle
Where even man no more is vile.
If such a place be anywhere,
Ah, take me there!  Ah, take me there!
And let me know security.

Is there no haven, heaven-bent,
Where economic argument
Falls flat; where war and talk of
Are with forgotten things of yore
Anachronistic oddities
Where mankind's mental food is peace,
And bliss and brotherhood increase.
If such a place be anywhere,
Ah, take me there!  Ah, take me there!
And feed me such commodities.

Where phonograph or wireless blare
Is never on the ambient air,
And calm night follows placid day
As silent seasons steal away
Tuned to a sweet tranquillity,
Where never, 'mid the traffie's roar
Red Death claims yet one victim more
If such a place be anywhere,
Ah, take me there!  Ah, take me there!
I go with meek docility.

Where tender sky to placid sea
Bends down in perfect harmony;
Where mute nymphs, in a smiling bandy
Come, as I loll on silvery sand,
And, bent upon adoring me,
Pass soothing fingers thro' my hair
Were such a land, and were I there,
I should arise, and yawn, and say,
'Take me away!  Take me away!
This deadly dump is boring me!'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:11 min read
94

Quick analysis:

Scheme aabbcddEEc xxxfghhEEg eeiicffEEc cccxceeiic
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,259
Words 237
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 10, 10, 10, 10

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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