I WISH I’d never gone to board <br />In that house where I met <br />The touring lady from abroad, <br />Who mocks my nightmares yet. <br />I wish—I wish that she had saved <br />Her news of what she’d seen— <br />That Dan O’Connor is clean shaved <br />And parts his hair between. <br /> <br />The ladies down at Manly now— <br />And widows understood— <br />No more deplore their marriage vow <br />Or hopeless widowhood. <br />For Dan O’Connor is the same <br />As though he’d never been, <br />Since Daniel shaved that shave of shame, <br />And combed his hair between. <br /> <br />No more, Oh Bards, in Danyel tones <br />He’ll voice our several fames, <br />And nevermore he’ll mix our bones <br />As once he mixed our names. <br />Let Southern minstrels dree their weird <br />And lay their sad harps down, <br />For Dan O’Connor’s shorn of beard <br />And cracked across the crown. <br /> <br />The lobby and refreshment room <br />Are shorn of half their larks, <br />A newer ghost now haunts the gloom <br />That knew the ghost of Parkes: <br />The brightest joke Australia had <br />Is but a hopeless grunt— <br />It went for ever mad and bad <br />When Daniel shaved his front. <br /> <br />The fair Spotswhoshky weeps indeed— <br />Frogsleggi and Bung Lung— <br />With none to greet and none to speed <br />Them in their native tongue! <br />By Sucklar Key nor Golden Gate <br />No Dan is ever seen <br />Since Dan O’Connor wiped his “slate” <br />And notched his top between. <br /> <br />But—Dan O’Connor—(Lord knows best <br />The thing might be a sell)— <br />You surely will forgive a jest <br />From one who wished you well— <br />When we’ve forgot the face we feared <br />And Time has deadened pain, <br />Oh! Dan O’Connor, grow your beard, <br />And come to us again.<br /><br />Henry Lawson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-dan-yell/
