ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

'Tis Christmas O'Leary
© Neil McArthur 2010

'Tis Christmas, O’Leary, a time to be cheery,
Not drowning yourself in the mem’ries of home!
‘Tis Christmas, begorra! and though we be poorer,
There’s riches unknown in this pile of loam.

And not as a failure will I leave Australia,
I've come here for gold, and ‘tis gold that I’ll find!
With patience and caution we’ll stumble on fortune,
We’ve the luck of the Irish, so never you mind.

‘Tis Christmas O’Leary, no time to be teary,
For I miss my family as badly as you.
Keep the Emerald Isle, out of mind just a while,
And drink to our future and raise up your brew!

With windlass and bucket, we’ll raise that great nugget,
That seems to elude us in every shaft
But there’s time left a’plenty, to rise to the gentry,
A miner needs patience to ply out his craft!

‘Tis Christmas O’Leary, now don’t look so dreary,
Drink to our Lord and the Ireland you grieve.
There’s gold to be found in this Ballarat ground,
So let’s drink some ale ‘fore taking our leave.

Don’t dwell in the clover, Eureka is over
Though many a digger is now in the ground,
Great works are to follow, so take that last swallow
A toast to the fallen, then buy the next round.

So here’s to the gold and to Ireland the Bold,
And here’s to the toil that makes us both cuss.
‘Tis Christmas O’Leary, and though we be bleary,
The Luck of the Irish is riding with us!

... the bucket is never half empty or half full, it is just waiting for someone to top it up with GOLD.

Very entertaining Keats. Loved it.

Heather

'Tis Christmas, O'Leary. Oh, don't look so weary.
You know that posterity won't shun our feats.
Our quest for bright gold, it will one day be told
By that bloke Neil McArthur, who calls himself 'keats'!

I can't sleep, with all these verses going 'round in my head!

It's Christmas, O'Reilly, and I'm being smiley.
I took your advice, and now you do the same.
If you don't do your bit, you're a great hypocrite,
Deserving of rancour, damnation and shame!

It's Christmas, O'Reilly. Don't try to be wily.
Don't slink to the corner, a flask in your hand.
If you must have a drink, then TWO glasses we'll clink,
So uncap that whiskey. We'll drink where we stand.

O'Reilly, it's Christmas. We stand at the isthmus.
The past is forgotten, the future's not writ.
Our dream of a nugget, we briefly will plug it.
Let carols be sung, and let candles be lit!

It's Christmas, oh Whiteside, so look on the bright side
as sweet Irish rhymes keep the Doctor from yawning.
So leprechaun carols, and big whisky barrels
for you and McArthur on Christmas day morning.

Marty

Obviously a catch rhyming pattern, you mongrels!! lol

'Tis Christmas, Oh Marty, so don't be a smarty
Or I'll take back my gold to the land of Stonehenge
'Tis Christmas, young Stephen, And I will get even
I'll empty this pint as I seek my revenge!

'Tis Christmas, 'tis Christmas! Why, hear the bells peel!
'Goodwill to All Men', it must ever hold sway,
And if thoughts of vengeance across you mind steal,
Please, hold them in check...until Boxing Day!

‘Tis Christmas O’Leary and Stephen is bleary
from clinking his glasses and sharpening his pen.
Be wary now Stephen ‘cause Keats will get even
he’ll steal all your wipers and blame it on Wen!

‘Tis Christmas hey Marty, so let’s have a party
and bring all the folk who live way over west.
We won’t invite Keats, I have heard that he bleats
we should invite Neil ‘cause his rhymes are the best!

Heather