For the first time in many years the British Budget shows a surplus - the amount being over 29 millions - and brings definite relief at last to workers, to unemployed, to taxpayers and motorists. Thus, eschewing hysterical and dramatic schemes for recovery, Britain stolidly and silently forges toward a new prosperity.
"It's dogged as does it." They've made it a saying,
A motto to hold in that tight little isle --
To hold in their fighting and toiling and playing --
And stick to the job with a tight little smile.
As fortune seems bleakest they cut out complaining --
They cut out the cackle and dig in their toes
As, inch upon inch, the lost ground they're regaining,
And just how they manage it nobody knows.
"It's dogged as does it." There's something heroic,
Unseen and unsung in this desperate drive;
With mien of the meek and the mind of a stoic,
They win their chief goal when they seem least alive.
The nations behold, yet can scarcely believe it
As Britain wins thro' to a triumph again;
And, wondering, ask how those dullards achieve it
In that darkest hour when all effort seems vain.
"Its dogged as does it." No pause for regretting,
For sighing or sobbing she seeks in the fray;
But silently, steadily, all else forgetting,
Stays on the job till the clouds clear away.
Then, rubbing its eyes in incredulous wander,
The world scarce believes such a miracle true
As, snatchin' for victory, e'en from a blunder,
The tight little island again muddles thro'.
First published in The Herald, 20 April 1934
Author reference sites: C.J. Dennis, Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library
See also.
