ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Daisy Chain Convict

Stephen Whiteside 26.10.2012

They cruelly sent me across the wide sea.
I yearn for the days when I used to be free.
I never believed this would happen to me.
Don't call me a daisy chain convict.

It's true, when your sentence is over, there's land.
Compared to Old England, the prospects are grand.
The flames of ambition are nurtured and fanned.
I'm still not a daisy chain convict.

The manacles chafe, and the chain weighs a ton.
The ball is so heavy, you never can run,
Besides, every officer carries a gun.
No way a daisy chain convict!

But now I look back as I sit with my wife;
So distant they seem now, the days of my strife.
It's hard to imagine a heartier life.
I get it now - daisy chain convict.

Daisy chain convict - it has a nice ring.
The clouds float, the birds and the bees, on the wing,
Enjoy the sweet flowers - they buzz and they sing.
Hooray for a daisy chain convict!

I've come back to this one yet again Stephen feeling I am missing the greater meaning behind your words

There are many definitions in todays terminology for Daisy chains - some rather more interesting than others, but the only connotation I can put on this and probably wrong is that the MC started as a convict, unhappy, brutalized etc etc sent to a country he had no love for but then over time the wheel turned and with his eventual freedom the chains that bound him here were chains of his own making for he saw the beauty and opportunities that were available.

Am I close?

Cheers

Maureen

Thank you for giving the poem so much thought, Maureen. I feel honoured.

I liked the phrase 'daisy chain convict', but was not sure what I could do with it.

So I started playing with the idea that perhaps the Australian convicts were called 'daisy chain convicts' because life turned out pretty good for a lot of them - probably better than if they had stayed in England. The narrator has obviously heard the appellation and resents it, but comes to understand it later in life.

Having said all this, I don't think the phrase has any historical legitimacy at all - it was just an idea.

G/day Stephen,

You certainly have a wide range of interest and I suspect a very active mind.

If it wasn't for you and Maureen (Poetry Wise) the forum would more or less grind to a halt.

So thanks for making the effort mate.

Cheers Terry

Thanks, Terry. Writing poetry is a great outlet for me, and I'd much rather post it here than leave it lying in a drawer somewhere. I find the feedback really helpful, too, as well as a lot of fun.

I reckon you're right Stephen,

Most of us these days are more or less hoarding our poems to perhaps enter in a competition at some stage.

The truth of the matter I suspect is that those same poem would probably be more appreciated here than almost anywhere else.
Here is a rare opportunity to share a poem with people who are actually interested.

Terry

Competitions are great and they certainly have their place, but I find it takes quite a lot of time to hunt them down, keep track of the deadlines, keep abreast of all the different rules, etc., and then the whole process of entering is also quite elaborate and time consuming. A lot of the time, I'd rather just spend that time writing.

Of course, if David Campbell (and common sense) eventually prevail, we'll be able to have our cake and eat it too - post poems here, and still enter them in competitions!