Agreeably Disappointed

[Hully]

I have posted in the events section about the Poets Trek in Bourke (September 27-29) - and was reminded just what a rich vein of inspiration it provides me every time I go on it - I had never written 'bush poetry' before I went on this trek - so went back through poems and found this.
The back-story is that Lawson wrote back to his aunt that he was 'Agreeably Disappointed' with Bourke....


Agreeably Disappointed
©2004Andrew Hull

The country wraps around you like a glove around a hand
And modern words do little now to quantify the land
In the red dust of the ages that writers once anointed
I find myself, like Henry, agreeably disappointed.

For us it is a pleasure to connect ourselves with time
And to claim a link with landscape through a hundred years of rhyme
And the city on the Darling that Henry claimed would thrive
Is defying drought and doubt in a struggle to survive

But the drought will leave the native fish stranded on the sand
As it flaps and fights for life on the uninviting land
The movements will go weaker as it struggles for a breath
And the alien surroundings will impose a painful death

Today I saw a native son struggling on his way
He was muddled, he was messy and we wished he’d go away
And we wished we’d never seen our past so broken and disjointed
As a nervous laugh declared us all, agreeably disappointed

I looked into the yellow eyes and shook the weakened hand
And I swear I saw a mighty cod flapping on the land
The over-proofed voice spoke to us through his broken teeth
And thanked us for our greeting, did the mighty cod beneath

A better man than me wouldn’t look him in the eye
And a better man than me wouldn’t think or question why,
And all of us were wishing that he wouldn't 'make a scene'
But Henry would have seen him for the man he might have been

But for the grace of God, there we go, one and all
For neither man nor native fish can circumvent their fall
So I’m happy that I’m here and not broken and disjointed
And I feel a lot like Henry, agreeably disappointed.

h

[r.magnay]

....you are a craftsman with the pen Hully.

[Neville Briggs]

Good one Hully. Your depiction of the fella who just wanted to be greeted in the ordinary way as another person, is spot on.

The Australian painter, Sidney Nolan went to Bourke for an art expedition about 1948 something like that, , thought he would find some inspiration there but he was disagreeably disappointed.

[Maureen K Clifford]

Beautiful Hully - have you set this one to music???? IMO it lends itself to music. Can anyone else hear the song?

Cheers

Maureen

[Neville Briggs]

Wait a bit Maureen, I'll just have a couple more brandys...yes..yes..now I can hear the song.

Sorry an old Goon joke.

[Hully]

Ha...goodonya Neville....might take me a few Brandy's too ! !
No music Maureen - this was written before the music fused - but I might revisit it !

cheers

h