Oh! this is a joyful dirge, my friends, and this is a hymn of praise;
And this is a clamour of Victory, and a pæan of Ancient Days.
It isn-t a Yelp of the Battlefield; nor a Howl of the Bounding Wave,
But an ode to the Things that the War has Killed, and a lay of the Festive Grave.
-Tis a triolet of the Tomb, you bet, and a whoop because of Despair,
And it-s sung as I stand on my hoary head and wave my legs in the air!
Oh! I dance on the grave of the Suffragette (I dance on my hands and dome),
And the Sanctity-of-the-Marriage-Tie and the Breaking-Up-of-the-Home.
And I dance on the grave of the weird White-Slave that died when the war began;
And Better-Protection-for-Women-and-Girls, and Men-Made-Laws-for-Man!
Oh, I dance on the Liberal Lady-s grave and the Labour Woman-s, too;
And the grave of the Female lie and shriek, with a dance that is wild and new.
And my only regret in this song-a-let as I dance over dale and hill,
Is the Yarn-of-the-Wife and the Tale-of-the-Girl that never a war can kill.
Oh, I dance on the grave of the want-ter-write, and I dance on the Tomb of the Sneer,
And poet-and-author-and-critic, too, who used to be great round here.
But -Old Mother Oftenâ? (-Mother of Tenâ?) and -Parentâ? escaped from the grave-
And -Pro Bono Publicoâ? liveth again, as -Victis,â? or -Honour the Brave.â?
Oh, lightly I danced upon Politics- grave where the Friend of the Candidate slept,
And over the Female Political Devil, oh wildly I bounded and leapt.
But this dance shall be nothing compared with the dance of the spook of the writer who sings
On the grave of the bard and the Bulletin-s grave, out there at the Finish of Things!
A Dirge Of Joy
Henry Lawson
(1)
Poem topics: brave, despair, friend, girl, home, howl, marriage, never, ode, song, wife, woman, women, head, wild, white, great, write, ancient, victory, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about A Dirge Of Joy poem by Henry Lawson
Best Poems of Henry Lawson