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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TALBRAGAR, by HENRY HERTZBERG LAWSON Poet's Biography First Line: Jack denver died on talbragar when christmas eve began Last Line: Rode in to talbragar. Subject(s): Death; Funerals; Dead, The; Burials | |||
JACK DENVER died on Talbragar when Christmas Eve began, And there was sorrow round the place, for Denver was a man; Jack Denver's wife bowed down her head—her daughter's grief was wild, And big Ben Duggan by the bed stood sobbing like a child. But big Ben Duggan saddled up, and galloped fast and far, To raise the biggest funeral yet seen on Talbragar. By station home And shearing-shed Ben Duggan cried, "Jack Denver's dead! Roll up at Talbragar!" He borrowed horses here and there, and rode all Christmas Eve, And scarcely paused a moment's time the mournful news to leave; He rode by lonely huts and farms until the day was done, And then he turned his horse's head and made for Ross's Run. No bushman in a single day had ridden half so far Since Johnson brought the doctor to his wife at Talbragar. By diggers' camps Ben Duggan sped— At each he cried, "Jack Denver's dead! Roll up at Talbragar!" That night he passed the humpies of the splitters on the ridge, And roused the bullock-drivers camped at Belinfante's Bridge; And as he climbed the ridge again the moon shone on the rise— Did moonbeams glisten in the mist of tears that filled his eyes? He dashed the rebel drops away—for blinding things they are— But 'twas his best and truest friend who died on Talbragar. At Blackman's Run Before the dawn Ben Duggan cried, "Jack Denver's gone! Roll up at Talbragar!" At all the shanties round the place they heard his horse's tramp, He took the track to Wilson's Luck, and told the diggers' camp; But in the gorge by Deadman's Gap the mountain shades were black, And there a newly fallen tree was lying on the track; He saw too late—and then he heard the swift hoof's sudden jar, And big Ben Duggan ne'er again rode home to Talbragar. "The wretch is drunk, And Denver's dead— A burning shame!" the people said Next day at Talbragar. For thirty miles round Talbragar the boys rolled up in strength, And Denver had a funeral a good long mile in length; Round Denver's grave that Christmas Day rough bushmen's eyes were dim— The western bushmen knew the way to bury dead like him; But some returning homeward found, by light of moon and star, Ben Duggan lying in the rocks, five miles from Talbragar. And far and wide When Duggan died, The bushmen of the western side Rode in to Talbragar. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FUNERAL SERMON by ANDREW HUDGINS RETURN FROM DELHI by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE SCATTERING OF EVAN JONES'S ASHES by GALWAY KINNELL BROWNING'S FUNERAL by H. T. MACKENZIE BELL FALLING ASLEEP OVER THE AENEID by ROBERT LOWELL MY FATHER'S BODY by WILLIAM MATTHEWS ANDY'S GONE WITH CATTLE by HENRY HERTZBERG LAWSON |
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