The Broken Sanctuary
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
I 'ad been bushed in city streets,
Where the bricks and mortar grow.
I 'ad worked me way through the northern towns
'Oo's landmarks I don't know.
There was faces, faces, driftin' past,
But never a one I knoo.
An' I never 'ad felt the need so great
For a reel good mate an' true.
A lonely man in the Outback lands
Is a lonely man, all right.
Yet 'e 'as the sky an' the birds by day
An' 'e 'as the stars by night.
But a lonely man in a crowd o' men
Is the loneliest of all,
An' that's 'ow come I 'ad a few;
An' that's 'ow come my fall.
Fer I sez to meself, 'I'm a stranger 'ere,
An' there ain't a soul I know.'
Then I thinks of a Mate I alwiz 'ad
Where the stunted mulgas grow
The Man 'oo ever 'as been my friend
Through many a black bush night;
An' I thinks, 'If I find His house round 'ere,
He'll give me a doss, all right.'
An' I come to His house as I stumbled on,
An' I found the door ajar;
As it alwiz stands in the Christian lands
Fer blokes that wander far;
So up I crep' to the altar step,
An' I sez . . . 'I'm 'ere again.'
I knew He'd spare what nap was there,
So I lodged with the Mate of Men.
Yes: I found His house, an' I lay me down,
An' I dreamed of a kindly God;
When a big policeman came along
An' banged me into quod.
An' the cell was cold, an' the bed was 'ard;
But I thinks, 'It's all right, Bill.'
So I lay me down an' dreamed again . .
An' my Mate was with me still.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:31 min read
- 92 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAXABCXD EFXFCGDG HAXAXFHF CIEIXCHC CXXBXJCJ |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,356 |
Words | 299 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
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"The Broken Sanctuary" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/6584/the-broken-sanctuary>.
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