Poem

Calling to Me

by John O’Brien · 1921

Through the hush of my heart in the spell of its dreamingComes the song of a bush boy glad-hearted and free;Oh, the gullies are green where the sunlight is streaming,And the voice of that youngster is calling to me.
It is calling to me with a haunting insistence,And my feet wander off on a hoof-beaten track,Till I hear the old magpies away in the distanceWith a song of the morning that’s calling me back.
It is calling me back, for the dew’s on the clover,And the colours are mellow on mountain and tree;Oh, the gold has gone gray in the heart of the rover,And the bush in the sunshine is calling to me.
It is calling to me, though the breezes are tellingGay troubadour tales to the stars as they roam;For the tapers are lit in the humble old dwelling,And the love that it sheltered is calling me home.
It is calling me home—but the white road lies gleaming,And afar from it all must I tarry and dree;Just an echo far off, in the hush of my dreaming,Is the voice of a youngster that’s calling to me.
Sources, publication & text notesReference details
Canonical recordPOEM-001545
Copy-textAround the Boree Log and Other Verses (1921), Project Gutenberg; IAC and Telelib complete-edition comparisons; selected copy-text retained exactly under D-180/D-208
Source recordSRC-000014
Rights determinationRGT-000199
Text statusCANONICAL TEXT READY
TranscriptionDIPLOMATIC_D208_D180

How texts and rights are checked →

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

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