The Great Grey Plain

Henry Lawson

Out West, where the stars are brightest, 
 Where the scorching north wind blows, 
And the bones of the dead gleam whitest, 
 And the sun on a desert glows -- 
Yet within the selfish kingdom 
 Where man starves man for gain, 
Where white men tramp for existence -- 
 Wide lies the Great Grey Plain. 
No break in its awful horizon, 
 No blur in the dazzling haze, 
Save where by the bordering timber 
 The fierce, white heat-waves blaze, 
And out where the tank-heap rises 
 Or looms when the sunlights wane, 
Till it seems like a distant mountain 
 Low down on the Great Grey Plain. 
No sign of a stream or fountain, 
 No spring on its dry, hot breast, 
No shade from the blazing noontide 
 Where a weary man might rest. 
Whole years go by when the glowing 
 Sky never clouds for rain -- 
Only the shrubs of the desert 
 Grow on the Great Grey Plain. 
From the camp, while the rich man's dreaming, 
 Come the `traveller' and his mate, 
In the ghastly dawnlight seeming 
 Like a swagman's ghost out late; 
And the horseman blurs in the distance, 
 While still the stars remain, 
A low, faint dust-cloud haunting 
 His track on the Great Grey Plain. 
And all day long from before them 
 The mirage smokes away -- 
That daylight ghost of an ocean 
 Creeps close behind all day 
With an evil, snake-like motion, 
 As the waves of a madman's brain: 
'Tis a phantom NOT like water 
 Out there on the Great Grey Plain. 
There's a run on the Western limit 
 Where a man lives like a beast, 
And a shanty in the mulga 
 That stretches to the East; 
And the hopeless men who carry 
 Their swags and tramp in pain -- 
The footmen must not tarry 
 Out there on the Great Grey Plain. 
Out West, where the stars are brightest, 
 Where the scorching north wind blows, 
And the bones of the dead seem whitest, 
 And the sun on a desert glows -- 
Out back in the hungry distance 
 That brave hearts dare in vain -- 
Where beggars tramp for existence -- 
 There lies the Great Grey Plain. 
'Tis a desert not more barren 
 Than the Great Grey Plain of years, 
Where a fierce fire burns the hearts of men -- 
 Dries up the fount of tears: 
Where the victims of a greed insane 
 Are crushed in a hell-born strife -- 
Where the souls of a race are murdered 
 On the Great Grey Plain of Life!

Index + Blog :

Poetry Archive Index | Blog : Poem of the Day