Not upon the crowded beaches
Where the sun beats fierce and hot;
Not upon the river reaches
In a shady silvan spot;
But in some deep mountain valley,
'Mid the sassafras and fern,
Here's the place where I would dally
When the suns of Summer burn.
Here the sifted sunlight dappling
Carpets with translucent green,
Flecks and flirts on fern and sapling,
Where the cold stream peeps between.
"Here," you muse, "since time's beginning,
Foot of man has never known;
Mine the joy first to be winning
All this beauty for my own."
"Here," you muse, "is safe seclusion
Known alone to bee and bird,
From the rude unsought intrusion
Of the common human herd." . . .
Then a lipstick grossly gleaming,
And a half-smoked fag you see;
And you waken from your dreaming
As a shrill voice yells "Coo-ee!"
First published in The Herald, 9 January 1932;
and later in
More Than a Sentimental Bloke edited by John Derum, 1990.
Author reference sites: C.J. Dennis, Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library
See also.
