John Shaw NeilsonThe Collected Verse

A Variorum Edition

Edited byMargaret Roberts

Australian Scholarly Editions CentreUNSW at ADFA

Canberra2003

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Acknowledgements 2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to express my appreciation for the help given me by RuthHarrison, who lent me material which she collected in the course ofher research and who made available a copy of an index that shecompiled in the course of her research.

I would also like to thank the late Jack McKimm and Mary McKimmand the late Betty Doyle (née Neilson), latterly Noblett, for theirassistance in supplying information about the Neilson family, andMaureen Stewart for information about the Devaney family.

I wish to acknowledge the contributions of the following libraries, andthe assistance of staff over a period of many years: the MitchellLibrary, State Library of New South Wales; the La Trobe Library,State Library of Victoria; the National Library of Australia; theUniversity of Queensland, Fryer Library; the John Oxley Library,State Library of Queensland and the Alexander Turnbull Library,National Library of New Zealand. Thanks too are due the Nhill andDistrict Historical Society.

Occasional Publications Series, no. 3. Series editor Paul Eggert.ISBN 0 7317 0381 2

C-i-p information is available from the National Library of AustraliaPublished in 2003 in electronic format by the Australian Scholarly Editions Centre,

School of Language, Literature and CommunicationUniversity of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra ACT 2600

www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/ASEC

©Australian Scholarly Editions Centre, UNSW at ADFA, Margaret Roberts

Layout by Andrea Tomkinson and Mary Walsh

Typesetting by Andrea Tomkinson

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 3

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2

INTRODUCTION 20Section 1: The man and the verse 20Section 2: The poet and the editors 35Section 3: The edition 51Section 4: The manuscripts – ‘notebooks’ 56‘Green Days and Cherries’: a note 61 Editorial symbols and abbreviations 63

CHRONOLOGY 66

TEXTPERIOD 1: 1890-1906 70A brilliant idea 71A buttercup in June 72A difficult matter 73A face in the crowd 74‘A friendless youth he was but full of hope’ 76A protest and a protest 77A remarkable lamb 78A safe treatment 81A vexatious delay 82After the campaign 83As the years go by 84At the end of spring 85Baby’s asleep 86Baby’s prayer 87Bears a drug 88Before the looking glass 89Bob and Dearie 91Darby’s dream 94Died on service 96Emily Wynn 97Etiquette at Lah 101Father O’Connor 102Father O’Hooligan’s walking stick 103Fitchett the finder 104From E to C 106From the cradle to the grave 109Good times ahead 110‘Had I but known the darkness, the guile and the art of thee’ 111Harry and me 112He was the Christ 115‘I sat for hours a’thinking on the great and grievous wrongs’ 116

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 4

In other years 117In the city of rest 120In the street 121Is civilisation a failure? 122It is the last 123Jack McLeod 125Life 126Love and life 127Love comes in summer 128Marian’s child 129Marjorie, Mother and I 131Minnie’s story 133Miss McKellar of Bradley’s Plains 136Misunderstood 140Misunderstood [1] 140Moderation in all things 141Mr Johnny Shepherd 142No fear of death 144Not forgotten 145Old Granny Sullivan 149On Saturday night 152Only a parting 153Opposites attract each other 154Our contemporary in trouble again 155Our free library 156Our mechanical staff 158Ourselves 159Polly and Dad and the spring cart 160‘Shall I have grim black night or stars or dew’ 164Sheedy was dying 165Something new in millinery 169Taking no risks 170The angel of the dew 171The anxiety of Michael 172The Australian poets 173The bloom and fall [1] 174The bloom and fall [2] 176The bride 177The case of Adam 178The child of tears 179The child we lost 180The coming of father 182The cry of the woman 183The dear little cottage 184The dear little cottage [1] 184The dream is deep 186The drunkard’s song 187The earth-born 188The effects of the charge 189

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 5

The fortune teller 190The funeral 191The girl of the period 192The good and the true 193The gray digger 194The horny fellow 195The hour is lost 198The hummer 199The king impetuous 201The land where I was born 202The love of light 204The lover sings 206The man who prayed 211The millionaire 213The mirth-makers 214The mother intervenes 215The old man’s worrying 216The old man’s worrying [1] 216The one request 217The pain of retrenchment 218The painting of a picture 220The pearl of prudence 223The poet speaks 224The prehistoric player 225The pretty gleaner 226The prince of pain 228The promise 231The sacrifice 233The sacrifice [1] 233The seeker 234The seeker [2] 234The sexton reconciled 235The sight of means 236The silver lining 237The spirit of contradiction 238The sympathiser 239The tales we never hear 240The thing that hath been [1] 242The thing that hath been [2] 243The unsolved 244The victory of John 246The wayfarer 248The wedding ring 249The white flowers came 250The woolly sheep 252To a little friend 254To a little singer 255To Mary Jane 256To Queen Alexandra 260

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 6

To Queen Victoria on her 74th birthday 263To Sarah Ann 264To the departed 265Tom McCann 266’Twas in the early summertime 270Two little dreamers 272When are the angels nearest 275When the good man died 276‘When your bullocks were bogged on the Berrigan Road’ 277Where the pelican builds its nest 278Which colour 279White Australia 282Why did you kiss me 283With tears [1] 284With tears [2] 285

PERIOD 2: 1907-1916 287A celt in a kilt 288‘A certain good lady at Warrack’ 289A cheap and effective method of dispersing rabbits 290‘A dashing young fellow at Francis’ 291A psalm of law 292A psalm of life 293A savings bank 294A song without a tune 295A sound churchman 296A stray cow 297A tired poet’s voice 298A welcome to Tommy Burns 299A woman and the spring 300‘A young lady sang at Penola’ 301Advice to a rhymer 302After the festival 303All for the best 304All is not well 305All the world’s a lolly-shop 306Along a river 308An editor indignant 309An interesting experience 310An open letter to Ada 311An undesirable alien 313As far as my heart can go 314At a girl’s grave 316At the boarding house 317At the bush hotel 318At the foot of Mt Aripalus 319At the social in aid of the home mission 320At the suburban hotel 321Bardie and Birdie 322

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 7

Barmaid at Binney’s 324Buried in May 326Consolation 327Content 328Cupid with a shanghai 329Dame Hubbard’s pilgrimage [1] 330Dame Hubbard’s pilgrimage [2] 331Early gone 332Early kisses 333Eternities 334Excitement at Boigbeat 335Facts indisputable 336For a child 337For a country editor 340For a tired poet 341From a coffin 342Goodbye to bitterness 343He never touched the earth 344He takes off his hat 345Her eyes 346Her foot 347Her laddie 348His father’s coat 349His heart will know 350Honeythirst 351How shall I live for my love? 352Human weakness 353Humbug 354Humbug [1] 354I am athirst 356In Chicago 357In Nimitybelle 358In the cool country 360In the dim counties 362In the wind 363Is it you Sadie? 365Is this a record? 366Jemima’s hat 367Jonah 368Jonah takes leave of the whale [1] 369Jonah takes leave of the whale [2] 370Judkins in paradise 371Julie Callaway [1] 372Julie Callaway [2] 376Just for a day 378Kings ancient and modern 379Leg pulling 380Let us be making merry 382Let us consider love 384

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 8

Let your song be delicate 385Lines for an album 387Listen oh pansy 388Little girl of the sky 389Little girl with black hair 390Little girl with black hair [1] 390Little girl with black hair [2] 391Little white girl 392‘Lives of millionaires remind us’ 393Longfellow at the races 394Love a microbe 395Love the player 397Love’s coming 398Maggie Tulliver 400May 402Me 403Medical notes 404Melbourne in the gloom 405Misunderstood 407Misunderstood [2] 407More mystery 408My cow in Switzerland 410My lady chides 411My love is like a violin 412My prisoner 415Night 416No time to jest 417Not tumbled to 418O lady of the dazzling flowers 419Oh heart of spring 420Oh player of the flute 422Oh summer sale 425Old Nell Dickerson 427On reading a recent copy of ‘London Punch’ 433On the cheek or the chin 434Our contemporary again vomits slime 435Paint me a petticoat green 436Pessimistic punter 439Pick and shovel men 440Play hour 441Poor sweet pretty joey 442Presence of mind 443Resignation 444Roses three 445Sainted Jane 446Saucy Susette 447Signs of the season 448Solomon and us 449

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 9

Solomon criticised 450Solomon in a bilious mood 451Song for a sinner 452Sonnet (Written during a temporary fit of insanity) 453‘Still laughing wearily with love’s old shame’ 454Surely God was a lover 455Sylvia and a salad 457Tell me and tell me all 458That lamb again 459That night 460The angel in the cherries 461The angel with the curling pins 462The appeal failed 463The approach of spring 464The bench criticised 465The bishop 466The black friend 467The book agent 468The borrower 469The break of day 470The bull-frog to the mountain duck 471The bushranger 472The call of the wild 473The cat and the fiddler 474The caterpillar 477The cause of the trouble 478The circuit horse 479The contract hero 482The cry of the mother 483The day is thine 485The dear little god 487The death of Bill Hardy 488The death we die 490The decay of humour 491The declaration 492The disadvantages of Absalom 493The dismayed singer 494The drive 495The editor 496The editor to a spring poet 497The editor’s woe 498The emperor 500The eventime 501The eyes of little Charlotte 502The famous pink wine at the bush shanty 504The far countree’ 505The fire unquenched 506The friend of literature 508The game of away, away 509

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 10

The girl with the black hair 511The girl with the black hair [1] 511The girl with the black hair [2] 513The greatest boomster 514The green girl [1] 515The green girl [2] 516The green girl [3] 517The green singer 518The happy thief 519The harper plays 520The heart longs 521The heroine 522The hour of the parting 523The joke eternal 524The king is bald 525The king is dead 526The knight’s tall daughters 527The lad who started out 528The lady Margaret 533The lament for Laddie 534The lament for Sadie 535The last shall be first 537The little black room 538The little girl with black hair 539The lover dies 540The loving tree 541The luckless bard to the flying blossom 547The man and the woman 548The manure agent 549The mare’s nest 550The meeting of sighs 552The melody of beauty 553The moon is full 554The moon will have a share 555The mother’s sin 556The mummy 557The old man’s worrying 558The old man’s worrying [2] 558The old mother 564The pale neighbour 565The palmy isles 567The parting glass 568The people in it 569The people in the playground 571The petticoat plays 572The philosopher 574The pioneers 575The place of death 576The power of the bells 578

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 11

The prince tarries 580The queen I love 581The ready teachers 582The reported marriage of Mr Bent 584The sacrifice 585The sacrifice [2] 585The seven years 586The smoker parrot 587The smoker parrot [1] 588The soldier is home 589The song and the bird 592The soul of the sandfly 594The soul of the sandfly [1] 594The soul of the sandfly [2] 596The strategy of Jonah 597The sun is up 598The sundowner 600The surrender 607The sweetest sweet 608The time for a toast 610The time of tumult 611The time of tumult [1] 611The time of tumult [2] 612The times of Solomon 613The tulip in the rain 614The turning of the year 615The utter unreasonableness of Casabianca 616The voice of the stiff 617The waiting of Martin’s woman 618The wedding in September 619The wheat is in the ear 626The white child 627The white player 629The widow moves 630The window to the heavens 631The wine 632The woman dyes 633The woodland way 634The worshipper 635The young man in his strength 636There came a whisper 637There was a dream 638‘There was a gentle woman dripping tears’ 639‘There was a young lady named Alice’ 640‘There was an old farmer at Droun’ 641‘They were hanging a man up at Bright’ 642‘This froggie foolishly would go’ 643This kitchen of ours 644This little milliner 645

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 12

To a bed-bug 649To a blue flower 650To a debutante 651To a divinity 652To a lowan 653To a young lady singing: (‘Oh to be a flower!’) 655To Cicely 656To Josephine 658To Mother 659To Susette 660To the summer girl 661Triolet [2]. ‘God left us Love, the mystery’ 662Triolet [3]. ‘My girl is veiled in gossamer’ 663Under a kurrajong 664We love but once 665When Celia’s near 667When does a burglar happen to shave? 668When does a burglar happen to shave? [1] 668When the tired women die 671When thirty-seven comes 673Why the little fiddle cried 674Why will ye die? 675Wigley’s reward 676Wishes, vain wishes 679You and yellow air 680Youth at worship 687

PERIOD 3: 1917-1927 688After sundown 689April weather 690At the dancer’s grave 691Be at the garden 692Collapse of an important industry at Footscray 693Colour yourself for a man 694Come along Rosemary 695Concerning little waitresses 697Dan Keen’s holiday 698Disturbance narrowly averted at Geelong 699Dolly’s offering 700Eva has gone 701For a little girl’s birthday 705For a sweet sound 706For Lindsay Gordon 707From the edge of the city 709Go away out little heart 710Go by the rivers 711Green lover 712Half a life back 715He sold himself to the daisies 717

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 13

Head first down 722Heard at Mulcahy’s 724His love was burned away 725How bitter are the ravens 727I will be saying 728In the long gown 729Inland born 730It is a lake 735It was a scorpion 736Lament for early buttercups 739Letty at the grave 740Love in absence 741Love is a great brew 742Mandrills all 743Maud Fane departs 744Of strawberries I tell 746Oh evergreen 747On the one string 748Out to the green fields 749Patricia on a holiday 750Prayer for a change 754Prayer for a larrikin 755Ride him away 756Rob me no more 759‘Said a pretty young girl at Irymple’ 760School girls hastening 761Show me the song 762Smoker parrots 763So sweet a mouth had she 764Song for a honeymoon 766Song for a honeymoon [1] 766Song in the yellow 767Song out of China 770Song without wine 771Speech to a rhymer 773Speech to the little one 774Stony Town 779Strawberries grow 785Strawberries in November 786Stroller and dreamer 787Sweets for a boy 788Swine see the wind 790The ascent of Dorothy 791The ballad of remembrance 792The birds go by 800The bitter moon 803The bitter woman 804The blue man and the barley 805The blue wren in the hop bush 806

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 14

The child being there 807The children of God 810The coming of the gooseberry 811The cool sailor 812The days of October 813The dive 814The dying editor 816The eleventh moon 817The evening is the morning 818The farm so green 819The fellow in the mist 822The flautist 823The flight of the weary 824The gentle water bird 831The giver of milk 834The golden body 835The grower of the strawberries 836The hen in the bushes 837The hungry players 841The insolence of the drummer 842The insolent landsman 843The Irish welcome [1] 844The Irish welcome [2] 847The lifting of the sin 852The little one unknown 853The loser wins 854The low love 855The mad listener 856The madman’s lady 857The melody in blue 859The misty messenger 860The moon was seven days down 866The mopoke and others 871The mulberry grew 872The night of music 874The night shall divide us 875The old wives sat at the table 876The orange tree 878The players and the moon 880The poor, poor country [1] 881The poor, poor country [2] 883The quarrel with the neighbour 888The salad maker 891The saucepan of the centuries 892The scent o’the lover 893The scented bird 894The smoker parrot 895The smoker parrot [2] 895The softest quarryman 896

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 15

The song for the Spring 902The sweetening of the year 903The uneven player 904The unlovely player 906The victor 907The vine is a friend 908The vixen has spoken 909The weight of the mist 910The woman of Ireland 911The woman of the forest 913The world as a rhyme 914Those shaded eyes 915’Tis the white plum tree 919To a concertina grub 920To a little girl in the play 921To a lodging house canary 922To a rude philistine 923To a runaway sound 924To a schoolgirl in her fourteenth year 925To a winter snake 926To an elusive maiden 929To anyone’s liver 930To the father of many 931To the hunter saffron 933To the little red messenger boy 934To the loved one in her absence 935To the red lory 936To the thick darkness 937To the untuneful dark 939Tribute to a fighter 940Uncle to a pirate 942We sought for the bunyip 945Weather prophets 946When kisses are as strawberries 947When lips are scarcely scarlet 948Winifred all in gray 949Woe in the merriment 950You at the door 951‘You can feel the full worth’ 952

PERIOD 4: 1928-1942 953A frivolous complaint by a sustenance worker 954Another early martyr 955Apology to a centipede 956Astonishing growth of weekend intemperance 957Autumn and moonlight 958Beauty imposes 959Before the dying fire 961Boys will listen 962

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 16

Confusion 963Disastrous collapse of land values 964East of the hospital 965Flowers do inhabit 971Flowers do invade us 972Flowers in the ward 973For a dead rhymer 974For the little boys out of heaven 975Frogs I admire 976Golden fugitive: To a departing smoker parrot 978He saw the jig 981Honourable understanding ensures early rising 984How came the light 985I could not speak of happiness 986I spoke to the violet [1] 987I spoke to the violet [2] 989In praise of the wind 990Is it a jig 991Is love then but a sleep 992It has come in the corn 993Keeping so thin 994Love is a berry 1000Making church services attractive 1001Native companions dancing 1002Nine moons in a song 1003Not altogether unexpected 1004Of berries so extreme 1005One journey more 1006Only of sailors 1007Paramount importance of food values 1008Police picnic 1009Remarkable clarity of expression 1010Saint Dorothy 1011Say summer shall not die 1012Say this for love 1013Scattered 1014Some thievery of old 1015Song for a honeymoon 1019Song for a honeymoon [2] 1019Song for a honeymoon [3] 1028Songs can be thought of 1036Stephen Foster 1037Sunday evening 1038Take down the fiddle Karl 1042Tell summer that I died 1043The approach to death 1044The bard and the lizard 1045The bird of courage 1048The butterflies invite me 1049

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 17

The crane is my neighbour 1050The critic after death, or alleged inefficient heating 1053The defence of summer 1054The dispute with the drummer 1055The drinker 1057The dust of a man 1058The good men and the wine 1059The good men made the wine 1061The good season 1062The hobbling fiddler 1065The invasions 1067The journey to the tunnel 1068The jugglers in the dogwood 1069The little girl at the pond 1070The little militant 1071The little soprano 1072The long lad on the violin 1073The long weekend [1] 1074The long weekend [2] 1075The old man in the Autumn 1077The playmate out of Egypt 1078The poor can feed the birds 1079The prince has been into the lane 1086The reasonings 1087The road to the hospital 1088The shoes of Marietta 1090The stolen lament 1091The story of a mulberry [1] 1094The story of a mulberry [2] 1096The strawberry seller 1099The strawberry woman 1100The theme eternal 1101The time for thankfulness 1104The time of tumult 1105The time of tumult [3] 1105The typist accepts an invitation to the races 1107The victim astounds me 1109The vine that is a friend 1110The walker on the sand 1121The walking of the moon-woman 1122The ways of the wildflower 1123The Whistling Jack 1124The winter sundown 1127These men who play 1130‘Those who have loved him, those who have hated’ 1131Thoughts about Rosemary 1132To a blonde typist 1133To a departed bushranger 1138To a little girl at Christmas 1140

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 18

To a magpie in gaol [1] 1141To a magpie in gaol [2] 1143To a young girl in the spring [1] 1145To a young girl in the spring [2] 1146To all the good birds 1147To an early-flowering almond 1148To Dulcie in a white dress 1150To Norah McKinney 1152To the elusive song 1154To the men of the roads 1155To the peacock’s lady 1156To the three recording angels on Saturday morning 1161When does a burglar happen to shave? 1166When does a burglar happen to shave? [2] 1166You cannot go down to the Spring 1168You with a frown 1169

VERSES THAT CANNOT BE ASSIGNED A DATE 1170 ‘Be diligent young man and go’ 1171Going alone 1172The fever of the hay 1173To a little girl looking south 1174To a sea curlew 1175To the beautiful child 1176‘Your pious, sleek self-constituted saint’ 1177

VERSES OF DOUBTFUL ATTRIBUTION 1178If one of these were mine 1179Still life on the farm 1181The larrikin’s lament 1182The man on the barge 1184Top o’the tide 1186

FRAGMENTS 1188‘A girdle of pure gems was looped around’ 1189A song for November 1189A widower 1189A young lady ‹whale› writes to a young lady friend 1189Honey in trees 1189I am in debt 1190In praise of the jig 1190Leaving the nest 1190‘Lightly he talks of Pork and Lard’ 1190Little girl in the rain 1191‘… love for anything’ 1191Love not the land 1191McAdam’s hut 1191Mine eyes have seen 1191

JOHN SHAW NEILSON – COLLECTED VERSE – Contents 19

Mushrooms in May 1192My love hath all 1192Myself and the trees 1192‘Nimbly the ‹sunbeam›’ 1192Out of the heart 1192Play not the lover 1193Play to the hollow man play 1193Prayer to the leaves 1193Retired 1193The child of the forest 1194The crony 1194The joy in the neighbour 1194The lament for Lottie 1194The little blue bull 1195The little red mother 1195The man and the moment 1195The mother of a son 1195The old man in the sky 1196The retreat of the heart 1196The song that is yellow 1196The spots on the lover 1196‘The tears came in my eyes’ 1197The toiler 1197The two kings 1197The unsoiled shop 1197The voice of the dark 1198The weaver 1198The wish or the singer 1198The woman courting air 1199To a child in the forest 1199To a wild pigeon 1199To an amateur acrobat 1199To my creditors 1199To the mother of the outlaws 1200‘We shall not be joyous but shall’ 1200‘When Charlie Morris from the grange’ 1200When the winds were young 1200Who sang of love 1201You and your journeyman 1201

BIBLIOGRAPHY