With Respect
Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:06 am
Homework July '21
With Respect.
© Ron Boughton. July 2021.
He trod a now familiar path –well past of feeling shame-
With whisky bottle empty and fob pocket nigh the same,
And often, more than not, with aching brow and weary feet
Was many times he’d wander, through the cut on Argyle Street.
Sometimes he’d have a stumble on the steep, sandstone stairway
That cut into the rock face, on the cuttings side walkway.
But of this area he’d written, those tales of ambush
About the scoundrel ‘Captain!’ and that ‘Someone from the Bush!’
But sadly now around ‘The Rocks,’ he’d trade a verse for drink
Just like in many of his haunts, in the urban precinct,
Where mateship for this genius renowned of the written word
Was refuge in the pubs, from routine life that torment blurred!
And sometimes through his deafness he would hear the church bells peal
As if, the Holy Trinity Church, had offered some appeal,
Though dealings with the spirits, often in his text defined,
But in all reality, he preferred the other kind!
One Hundred years, it will be next year, since he passed away
And drifted into history but remembered to this day
A giant of Australian literature, that, time has shown
The ‘peoples poet’ status, is forever set in stone!
And steam and horse drawn trams, also part of histories trails
Just like a soulful poet could at times drift from the rails.
And like, billowing sails of cloud cast shadow on the land,
So too there’s many battlers …feel the shadow of his hand!
Footnote: The steps at the side of the cutting were named the Merrimen steps and were later
demolished to make way for the Harbour Bridge.
The Holy Trinity Church (also known as the Garrison Church) is in Argyle Street Millers Point.
With Respect.
© Ron Boughton. July 2021.
He trod a now familiar path –well past of feeling shame-
With whisky bottle empty and fob pocket nigh the same,
And often, more than not, with aching brow and weary feet
Was many times he’d wander, through the cut on Argyle Street.
Sometimes he’d have a stumble on the steep, sandstone stairway
That cut into the rock face, on the cuttings side walkway.
But of this area he’d written, those tales of ambush
About the scoundrel ‘Captain!’ and that ‘Someone from the Bush!’
But sadly now around ‘The Rocks,’ he’d trade a verse for drink
Just like in many of his haunts, in the urban precinct,
Where mateship for this genius renowned of the written word
Was refuge in the pubs, from routine life that torment blurred!
And sometimes through his deafness he would hear the church bells peal
As if, the Holy Trinity Church, had offered some appeal,
Though dealings with the spirits, often in his text defined,
But in all reality, he preferred the other kind!
One Hundred years, it will be next year, since he passed away
And drifted into history but remembered to this day
A giant of Australian literature, that, time has shown
The ‘peoples poet’ status, is forever set in stone!
And steam and horse drawn trams, also part of histories trails
Just like a soulful poet could at times drift from the rails.
And like, billowing sails of cloud cast shadow on the land,
So too there’s many battlers …feel the shadow of his hand!
Footnote: The steps at the side of the cutting were named the Merrimen steps and were later
demolished to make way for the Harbour Bridge.
The Holy Trinity Church (also known as the Garrison Church) is in Argyle Street Millers Point.