Poem

Barta

by Henry Lawson · 1905

Wide solemn eyes that question me,    Wee hand that pats my head—Where only two have stroked before,    And both of them are dead.‘Ah, poo-ah Daddy mine,’ she says,    With wondrous sympathy—Oh, baby girl, you don’t know how    You break the heart in me!
Let friends and kinsfolk work their worst,    And the world say what it will,Your baby arms go round my neck—    I’m your own Daddy still!And you kiss me and I kiss you,    Fresh kisses frank and free—Ah, baby girl, you don’t know how    You break the heart in me!
I dreamed when I was good that when    The snow showed in my hair,A household angel in her teens    Would flit about my chair,To comfort me as I grew old;    But that shall never be—Ah, baby girl, you don’t know how    You break the heart in me!
But one shall love me while I live    And soothe my troubled head,And never hear an unkind word    Of me when I am dead.Her eyes shall light to hear my name    Howe’er disgraced it be—Ah, baby girl, you don’t know how    You help the heart in me!
Sources, publication & text notesReference details
Canonical recordPOEM-000238
Copy-textWhen I Was King and Other Verses (1905), Project Gutenberg Australia; selected copy-text retained exactly; substantive wording and line/stanza layout independently confirmed against SRC-000067 under D-180
Source recordSRC-000068
Rights determinationRGT-000456
Text statusCANONICAL TEXT READY
TranscriptionDIPLOMATIC_D208_D180

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While The Billy Boils · Public-domain text · www.whilethebillyboils.com.au/poems/barta

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