Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IT'S GRAND, by ANDREW BARTON PATERSON Poet's Biography First Line: It's grand to be a squatter Last Line: That would, indeed, be grand! Alternate Author Name(s): Paterson, 'banjo' Subject(s): Rain | ||||||||
It's grand to be a squatter And sit upon a post, And watch your little ewes and lambs A-giving up the ghost. It's grand to be a 'cockie' With wife and kids to keep, And find an all-wise Providence Has mustered all your sheep. It's grand to be a Western man, With a shovel in your hand, To dig your little homestead out From underneath the sand. It's grand to be a shearer Along the Darling-side, And pluck the wool from stinking sheep That some days since have died. It's grand to be a rabbit And breed till all is blue, And then to die in heaps because There's nothing left to chew. It's grand to be a Minister And travel like a swell, And tell the Central District folk To go to -- Inverell. It's grand to be a socialist And lead the bold array That marches to prosperity At seven bob a day. It's grand to be an unemployed And lie in the Domain, And wake up every second day -- And go to sleep again. It's grand to borrow English tin To pay for wharves and docks, And then to find it isn't in The little money-box. It's grand to be a democrat And toady to the mob, For fear that if you told the truth They'd hunt you from your job. It's grand to be a lot of things In this fair Southern land, But if the Lord would send us rain, That would, indeed, be grand! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DISTANT RAINFALL by ROBINSON JEFFERS CHAMBER MUSIC: 32 by JAMES JOYCE HEAVY SUMMER RAIN by JANE KENYON CROWD CORRALLING by MARGARET AVISON THE RAIN-POOL by KARLE WILSON BAKER ON THE GREAT ATLANTIC RAINWAY by KENNETH KOCH A BALLAD OF DUCKS by ANDREW BARTON PATERSON |
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