Famous Scrubs Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Scrubs poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous scrubs poems. These examples illustrate what a famous scrubs poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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How the Land was Won

...they won it by twos and threes! 

With God, or a dog, to watch, they slept 
By the camp-fires' ghastly glow, 
Where the scrubs were dark as the blacks that crept 
With "nulla" and spear held low; 
Death was hidden amongst the trees, 
And bare on the glaring sand 
They fought and perished by twos and threes – 
And that's how they won the land! 

It was two that failed by the dry creek bed, 
While one reeled on alone – 
The dust of Australia's greatest dead 
With the dust of th...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry


Marshalls Mate

...ed and ran ahead. 
We reached the place and turned again -- dragged back and no man spoke -- 
It was a bush-fire in the scrubs that made the cursed smoke. 
And when we gave it best at last, he said, `I'LL see it through,' 
Although he knew we'd done as much as mortal men could do. 
`I'll not -- I won't give up!' he said, his hand pressed to his brow; 
`My God! the cursed flies and ants, they might be at him now. 
I'll see it so in twenty years, 'twill haunt me all my life -- ...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry

Out Back

...time had come, as the shearer knew, to carry his swag Out Back. 

For time means tucker, and tramp you must, 
where the scrubs and plains are wide, 
With seldom a track that a man can trust, or a mountain peak to guide; 
All day long in the dust and heat -- when summer is on the track -- 
With stinted stomachs and blistered feet, 
they carry their swags Out Back. 

He tramped away from the shanty there, when the days were long and hot, 
With never a soul to know or care if he...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry

Sez You

...ile you nurse your rheumatism 'neath a patch of calico; 
Short of tucker or tobacco, short of sugar or of tea, 
And the scrubs are dark and dismal, and the plains are like a sea; 
Don't give up and be down-hearted -- to the soul of man be true! 
Grin! if you've a mate to grin for, grin and jest and don't look blue; 
For it can't go on for ever, and -- `I'll rise some day,' says you. 

When you've tramped the Sydney pavements till you've counted all the flags, 
And your flappi...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry

Sez You

...ile you nurse your rheumatism 'neath a patch of calico; 
Short of tucker or tobacco, short of sugar or of tea, 
And the scrubs are dark and dismal, and the plains are like a sea; 
Don't give up and be down-hearted -- to the soul of man be true! 
Grin! if you've a mate to grin for, grin and jest and don't look blue; 
For it can't go on for ever, and -- `I'll rise some day,' says you. 

When you've tramped the Sydney pavements till you've counted all the flags, 
And your flappi...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry


The Birth

...Seven o'clock. The seventh day of the seventh month of the year.
No sooner have I got myself up in lime-green scrubs,
a sterile cap and mask,
and taken my place at the head of the table

than the windlass-woman ply their shears
and gralloch-grub
for a footling foot, then, warming to their task,
haul into the inestimable

realm of apple-blossoms and chanterelles and damsons and eel-spears
and foxes and the general hubbub
of inkies and jennets and Kickapoos with their...Read more of this...
by Muldoon, Paul

The Fire At Rosss Farm

...pt across the flowing streams 
And raced o'er pastures broad; 
It climbed the trees and lit the boughs 
And through the scrubs it roared. 
The bees fell stifled in the smoke 
Or perished in their hives, 
And with the stock the kangaroos 
Went flying for their lives. 

The sun had set on Christmas Eve, 
When, through the scrub-lands wide, 
Young Robert Black came riding home 
As only natives ride. 
He galloped to the homestead door 
And gave the first alarm: 
`The fire is past...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry

The Man Bitten By Fleas

...s of slender size, 
That feast on humane Gore, 
From secret Ambushes arise, 
Nor suffer him to snore; 

Who starts, and scrubs, and frets, and swears, 
'Till, finding all in vain, 
He for Relief employs his Pray'rs 
In this old Heathen strain. 

Great Jupiter! thy Thunder send 
From out the pitchy Clouds, 
And give these Foes a dreadful End, 
That lurk in Midnight Shrouds: 

Or Hercules might with a Blow, 
If once together brought, 
This Crew of Monsters overthrow, 
By which ...Read more of this...
by Finch, Anne Kingsmill

The Vagabond

...guises, but soul the same, 
I meet him everywhere. 

I had a chum. When the times were tight 
We starved in Australian scrubs; 
We froze together in parks at night, 
And laughed together in pubs. 
And I often hear a laugh like his 
From a sense of humour keen, 
And catch a glimpse in a passing phiz 
Of his broad, good-humoured grin. 

And I had a love -- 'twas a love to prize -- 
But I never went back again . . . 
I have seen the light of her kind brown eyes 
In many a face ...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry

We Are Going

...s creeping back as the camp fires burn low. 
We are nature and the past, all the old ways 
Gone now and scattered. 
The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter. 
The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place. 
The bora ring is gone. 
The corroboree is gone. 
And we are going.'...Read more of this...
by Noonuccal, Oodgeroo

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