Verses Popular And Humorous

Verses, Popular and Humorous was the second collection of poems by Australian poet Henry Lawson. It features some of the poet's earlier major works, including "The Lights of Cobb and Co", "Saint Peter" and "The Grog-An'-Grumble-Steeplechase".

The original collection includes 66 poems by the author that are reprinted from various sources. Later publications split the collection into two separate volumes: Popular Verses and Humorous Verses, though the contents differed from the original list.

By : Henry Lawson (1867 - 1922)

00 - Preface 01 - The Ports Of The Open Sea 02 - The Three Kings 03 - The Outside Track 04 - Sydney-Side 05 - The Rovers 06 - Foreign Lands 07 - Mary Lemaine 08 - The Shakedown On The Floor 09 - Reedy River 10 - Old Stone Chimney 11 - Song Of The Old Bullock-Driver 12 - The Lighs Of Cobb and Co 13 - How The Land Was Won 14 - The Boss Over The Board 15 - When The Ladies Come To The Shearing Shed 16 - The Ballad Of The Rouseabout 17 - Years After The War In Australia 18 - The Old Jimmy Woodser 19 - The Christ Of The "Never" 20 - The Cattle-Dog's Death 21 - The Song Of The Darling River 22 - Rain In The Mountains 23 - A May Night On The Mountains 24 - The New Chum Jackaroo 25 - The Dons Of Spain 26 - The Bursting Of The Boom 27 - Antony Villa 28 - Second Class Wait Here 29 - The Ships That Won't Go Down 30 - The Men We Might Have Been 31 - The Way Of The World 32 - The Battling Days 33 - Written Afterwards 34 - The Uncultured Rhymer To His Cultured Critics 35 - The Writer's Dream 36 - The Jolly Dead March 37 - My Literary Friend 38 - Mary Called Him "Mister" 39 - Rejected 40 - O'Hara, J.P. 41 - Bill And Jim Fall Out 42 - The Paroo 43 - The Green-Hand Rouseabout 44 - The Man From Waterloo 45 - Saint Peter 46 - The Stranger's Friend 47 - The God-Forgotten Election 48 - The Boss's Boots 49 - The Captain Of The Push 50 - Billy's "Square Affair" 51 - A Derry On A Cove 52 - Rise Ye! Rise Ye! 53 - The Ballad Of Mabel Clare 54 - Constable M'Carthy's Investigation 55 - At The Tug-of-War 56 - Here's Luck! 57 - The Men Who Come Behind 58 - The Days When We Went Swimming 59 - The Old Bark School 60 - Trouble On The Selection 61 - The Professional Wanderer 62 - A Little Mistake 63 - A Study In The "Nood" 64 - A Word To Texas Jack 65 - The Grog-An'-Grumble Steeplechase 66 - But What's The Use

SYDNEY-SIDE

Where’s the steward?—Bar-room steward? Berth? Oh, any berth will do—

I have left a three-pound billet just to come along with you.

Brighter shines the Star of Rovers on a world that’s growing wide,

But I think I’d give a kingdom for a glimpse of Sydney-Side.

Run of rocky shelves at sunrise, with their base on ocean’s bed;

Homes of Coogee, homes of Bondi, and the lighthouse on South Head;

For in loneliness and hardship—and with just a touch of pride—

Has my heart been taught to whisper, ‘You belong to Sydney-Side.’

Oh, there never dawned a morning, in the long and lonely days,

But I thought I saw the ferries streaming out across the bays—

And as fresh and fair in fancy did the picture rise again

As the sunrise flushed the city from Woollahra to Balmain.

And the sunny water frothing round the liners black and red,

And the coastal schooners working by the loom of Bradley’s Head;

And the whistles and the sirens that re-echo far and wide—

All the life and light and beauty that belong to Sydney-Side.

And the dreary cloud-line never veiled the end of one day more,

But the city set in jewels rose before me from ‘The Shore.’

Round the sea-world shine the beacons of a thousand ports o’ call,

But the harbour-lights of Sydney are the grandest of them all!

Toiling out beyond Coolgardie—heart and back and spirit broke,

Where the Rover’s Star gleams redly in the desert by the ‘soak’—

But says one mate to the other, ‘Brace your lip and do not fret,

We will laugh on trains and ’buses—Sydney’s in the same place yet.’

Working in the South in winter, to the waist in dripping fern,

Where the local spirit hungers for each ‘saxpence’ that we earn—

We can stand it for a season, for our world is growing wide,

And they all are friends and strangers who belong to Sydney-Side.

‘T’other-siders! T’other-siders!’ Yet we wake the dusty dead;

It is we that send the backward province fifty years ahead;

We it is that ‘trim’ Australia—making narrow country wide—

Yet we’re always T’other-siders till we sail for Sydney-side.