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John O'Brien's Poetry, by popularity

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  • The Pillar of the Church
    Faith, 'tis good to see him comin' when the bell for Mass is flingin’
    Gladsome golden notes appealin' on the Sabbath-softened air,
    72 lines
  • The Wiree's Song
    The wiree sang that Christmas Day,
    A rippling, limpid, liquid lay
    36 lines
  • The Riderless Horse
    He comes when the gullies are wrapped in the gloaming,
    And lime-lights are trained on the tops of the gums,
    114 lines, 1 comment
  • The Parting Rosary
    They have brought the news, my darlin', that I've waited for so long.
    Faith, 'twas little news they brought me; every story, every song
    70 lines
  • The Tidy Little Body
    Faith, and little Miss McCroddie was the tidy little body,
    Just as trim and prim and handy as you'd ever wish to see
    27 lines
  • The Road to Danahey's
    The rambling road to Danahey's it goes by hill and plain,
    It wanders in among the trees and wanders out again.
    68 lines
  • The Old Mass Shandryden
    I can see it in my dreaming o'er a gap of thirty years,
    And the rattle of its boxes still is music in my ears:
    100 lines
  • The Libel
    "The flowers have no scent, and the birds have no song,”
    We read in the lesson before us,
    32 lines
  • When the Circus came to Town
    When the circus came to town
    With its coaches and four, and its steeds galore,
    50 lines
  • The Meeting
    They hadn't met for fifty years, or was it fifty-one ?
    They'd parted when their ship arrived their separate ways to run.
    36 lines
  • The Helping Hand
    When that hour comes when I shall sit alone,
    And ponder on the things that were, but are no more,
    40 lines
  • The Old Bush School
    'Tis a queer, old battered landmark that belongs to other years;
    With the dog-leg fence around it, and its hat about its ears,
    72 lines
  • The Careys
    Their new house stood just off the road.
    A fine big brick two-storey,
    132 lines
  • Vale` - Father Pat
    Yes, that's the hardest hand at all upon my frosted head-
    That telegram that brought the news that Father Pat is dead-
    88 lines
  • The Church upon the Hill
    A simple thing of knotted pine
    And corrugated tin;
    60 lines
  • The Little Irish Mother
    Have you seen the tidy cottage in the straggling, dusty street,
    Where the roses swing their censers by the door?
    49 lines
  • The Presbyt'ry Dog
    Now of all the old sinners in mischief immersed,
    From the ages of Gog and Magog,
    38 lines
  • The Trimmin's on the Rosary
    Ah, the memories that find me now my hair is turning gray,
    Drifting in like painted butterflies from paddocks far away;
    85 lines
  • Six Brown Boxer Hats
    The hawker with his tilted cart pulled up beside the fence,
    And opened out his wondrous mart with startling eloquence;
    25 lines
  • Tumba Bloody Rumba
    I was down the Riverina, knockin' 'round the towns a bit,
    And occasionally resting with a schooner in me mitt,
    33 lines, 1 comment
  • Around the Boree Log
    Oh, stick me in the old caboose this night of wind and rain,
    And let the doves of fancy loose to bill and coo again.
    30 lines, 3 comments
  • The Kookaburras
    Fall the shadows on the gullies, fades the purple from the mountain;
    And the day that's passing outwards down the stairways of the sky,
    26 lines
  • Teddo Wells Deceased
    Times I think I'm not the man-
    Must be some mistake.
    90 lines
  • Moryah
    “Wisha, where is he goin' to now
    With the hat on the back of the poll.
    35 lines
  • Could I hear the Kookaburras once again
    May a fading fancy hover round a gladness that is over?
    May a dreamer in the silence rake the ashes of the past?
    41 lines
  • Peter Nelson's Fiddle
    Do you ever dream you hear it, you who went the lonely track?
    Do you ever hear its simple melodies
    32 lines
  • Norah O'Neill
    That Norah O'Neill is a sthreel,*
    And I’m talking the way that I feel,
    27 lines
  • Tell me, What''s a girl to do
    Tell me, what's a girl to do
    When the gossoons court and cozen?
    24 lines
  • Making Home
    No, you don't quite get the meaning when the fun is at its height
    With the neighbours at the breakfast, and the world is warm and bright;
    77 lines
  • Honeymooning from the Country
    To the rooms where I am dining in the glaring city's day
    Come the happy honeymooners from the country far away,
    54 lines
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