The Dusky Wood-Swallow

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



Surely must you know me,
 Friendly and content;
All my actions show me
 Freely confident;
With my band of toilers,
  When the blue days smile:
Little Jacky Martin
  Come to stay a while.

Every town and village
  Knows me, every farm.
Mine no wish to pillage,
  Mine no will to harm;
Busy in the orchard,
  My pest-destroying band:
Little Jacky Martin
  Come to lend a hand.

Suddenly appearing
  In far forest land
When you've cut a clearing,
  Lo, I am at hand,
Wheeling, soaring floating
  Where the new fields bask;
Little Jacky Martin
  Come to aid the task.

In the chilly weather
  See us in the trees,
Huddled up together
  Like the swarming bees.
Awing again and toiling
  When the chill days end;
Little Jacky Martin
  Everybody's friend.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
30

Quick analysis:

Scheme axaxbcDc xexexfDf gfgfghDh ibibgjDj
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 723
Words 130
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 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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