The Boobook Owl

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



Not for any airs and graces
When, to lonely, silent places
Men return in memory,
Come these kindly thoughts of me.
But they hear again my calling
Where the dappled moonlight, falling
Mid the shadows of the gums,
Weaves strange patterns; and there comes,
Blending with the hobble's jingle,
As the faint bush odors mingle
 With the smell of wood-fire smoke,
Suddenly my call - 'Mo-poke!'

Now a weary swagman camping
After miles of mountain tramping;
Now, mid spinifex and sand,
A drover of the overland;
Now a timber-getter sitting
In his hut, the firelight flitting
O'er his old face, lost in dreams;
Now the man who punches teams
Where the blacksoil plains go rolling;
Now a fossicker, pot-holing,
Hopeful ever, ever broke
Hears me in the night - 'Mo-poke!'

Never while one bushland lover
Camps beneath the great sky's cover,
And my call comes once again
To the ears of lonely men:
Never while to silent places
Memory of old day traces
Olden pictures in the fire,
And men dream of youth's desire,
Dream again of youth's high daring:
Never while men yet go faring
Forth beyond the ken of folk,
Shall my night call fail - 'Mo-poke!'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:01 min read
131

Quick analysis:

Scheme XABBCCDDEEFF CCGGCCHHCCFF IIJJAAIICXFF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,104
Words 204
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 12, 12, 12

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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