Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CONVICTS OF NEW SOUTH WALES: JOHN, SAMUEL, AND RICHARD, by ROBERT SOUTHEY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CONVICTS OF NEW SOUTH WALES: JOHN, SAMUEL, AND RICHARD, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Tis a calm pleasant evening, the light fades away
Last Line: You drink up your grog and be merry together.
Subject(s): Friendship; Judgments; Memory; New South Wales, Australia; Prisons & Prisoners; Soldiers; Story-telling


JOHN.

'TIS a calm pleasant evening, the light fades away,
And the sun going down has done watch for the day.
To my mind, we live wondrous well when transported;
It is but to work, and we must be supported.
Fill the can, Dick! Success here to Botany Bay!

RICHARD.

Success if you will,—but God send me away!

JOHN.

You lubberly landsmen don't know when you're well!
Hadst thou known half the hardships of which I can tell!
The sailor has no place of safety in store—
From the tempest at sea, to the press-gang on shore!
When roguery rules all the rest of the earth,
God be thanked, in this corner I've got a good berth.

SAMUEL.

Talk of hardships! what these are the sailor don't know;
'Tis the soldier, my friend, that's acquainted with woe,
Long journeys, short halting, hard work, and small pay,
To be popt at like pigeons for sixpence a day!—
Thank God! I'm safe quartered at Botany Bay.

JOHN.

Ah! you know but little: I'll wager a pot
I have suffered more evils than fell to your lot,
Come, we'll have it all fairly and properly tried,
Tell story for story, and Dick shall decide.

SAMUEL.

Done.

JOHN.

Done. 'Tis a wager, and I shall be winner;
Thou wilt go without grog, Sam, to-morrow, at dinner.

SAMUEL.

I was trapped by the sergeant's palavering pretences,
He listed me when I was out of my senses.
So I took leave to-day of all care and all sorrow,
And was drilled to repentance and reason to-morrow.

JOHN.

I would be a sailor and plough the wide ocean,
But was soon sick and sad with the billows' commotion;
So the captain he sent me aloft on the mast,
And cursed me, and bid me cry there—and hold fast!

SAMUEL.

After marching all day, faint, and hungry, and sore,
I have lain down at night on the swamps of the moor,
Unsheltered, and forced by fatigue to remain,
All chilled by the wind and benumbed by the rain.

JOHN.

I have rode out the storm when the billows beat high,
And the red gleaming lightnings flashed through the dark sky;
When the tempest of night the black sea overcast,
Wet and weary I laboured, yet sung to the blast.

SAMUEL.

I have marched, trumpets sounding, drums beating, flags flying,
Where the music of war drowned the shrieks of the dying,
When the shots whizzed around me all dangers defied,
Pushed on when my comrades fell dead at my side;
Drove the foe from the mouth of the cannon away,
Fought, conquered, and bled, all for sixpence a day.

JOHN.

And I, too, friend Samuel! have heard the shots rattle,
But we seamen rejoice in the play of the battle;
Though the chain and the grape-shot roll splintering around,
With the blood of our messmates though slippery the ground,
The fiercer the fight, still the fiercer we grow,
We heed not our loss so we conquer the foe;
And the hard battle won, if the prize be not sunk,
The captain gets rich, and the sailors get drunk.

SAMUEL.

God help the poor soldier when backward he goes
In disgraceful retreat through a country of foes!
No respite from danger by day or by night,
He is still forced to fly, still o'ertaken to fight;
Every step that he takes he must battle his way,
He must force his hard meal from the peasant away;
No rest and no hope, from all succour afar,
God forgive the poor soldier for going to the war!

JOHN.

But what are these dangers to those I have past
When the dark billows roared to the roar of the blast;
When we worked at the pumps, worn with labour and weak,
And with dread still beheld the increase of the leak?
Sometimes, as we rose on the wave, could our sight
From the rocks of the shore catch the light-house's light;
In vain to the beach to assist us they press,
We fire faster and faster our guns of distress;
Still, with rage unabating, the wind and waves roar;
How the giddy wreck reels, as the billows burst o'er!
Leap—leap—for she yawns—for she sinks in the wave!
Call on God to preserve—for God only can save.

SAMUEL.

There's an end of all troubles, however, at last!
And when I in the waggon of wounded was cast,
When my wounds with the chilly night-wind smarted sore,
And I thought of the friends I should never see more,
No hand to relieve—scarce a morsel of bread—
Sick at heart I have envied the peace of the dead!
Left to rot in a jail till by treaty set free,
Old England's white cliffs with what joy did I see!
I had gained enough glory, some wounds, but no good,
And was turned on the public to shift how I could.
When I think what I've suffered, and where I am now,
I curse him who snared me away from the plough.

JOHN.

When I was discharged I went home to my wife,
There in comfort to spend all the rest of my life,
My wife was industrious; we earned what we spent,
And though little we had, were with little content;
And whenever I listened, and heard the wind roar,
I blessed God for my little snug cabin on shore.
At midnight they seized me, they dragged me away,
They wounded me sore when I would not obey,
And because for my country I'd ventured my life,
I was dragged like a thief from my home and my wife.
Then the fair wind of fortune chopped round in my face,
And want at length drove me to guilt and disgrace—
But all's for the best!—on the world's wide sea cast,
I am havened in peace in this corner at last.

SAMUEL.

Come, Dick! we have done—and for judgment we call,

RICHARD.

And in faith I can give you no judgment at all;
But that as you're now settled, and safe from foul weather,
You drink up your grog and be merry together.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net