Poem

Nineteen Nine

by Henry Lawson · 1910

There’s a light out there in the nearer east
    In the dawn of Nineteen Nine;
There’s the old ghost light in the salty yeast
    Where the black rocks meet the brine.
Here’s the same old strife and toil in vain—
    Here’s the same old hope and doubt—
Here’s the same old useless care and pain—
    And the sea is my way out—
My dear—
    The sea is my way out.
’Tis a grey and a sad old sea for me—
    With a growing grey head too.
Oh, the heads were brown and the eyes were bright
    When the sea was white and blue.
It was round the world and home again,
    We could turn and turn about,
And the sea means exile now in vain,
    But the sea is my way out—
My dear—
    The sea is my way out.
Sources, publication & text notesReference details
Canonical recordPOEM-000021
Copy-textHenry Lawson — The Skyline Riders and Other Verses; selected digital copy-text retained exactly; complete University of Sydney institutional edition independently corroborates substantive wording and meaningful selected-copy layout under D-180/D-208
Source recordSRC-000001
Rights determinationRGT-001003
Text statusCANONICAL TEXT READY
TranscriptionDIPLOMATIC_D180_D208

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