While The Billy BoilsSearchThe complete collection
Poems
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45 poems — showing 1–45
Faith & community
A Stranger in the Church
John O’Brien
’Twas Callagan who jerked the thumb—1921→War & public life
Around the Boree Log
John O’Brien
Oh, stick me in the old caboose this night of wind and rain,1921→War & public life
At Casey’s After Mass
John O’Brien
There’s a weather-beaten sign-post where the track turns towards the west,1921→Love & relationships
Calling to Me
John O’Brien
Through the hush of my heart in the spell of its dreaming1921→Sea & travel
Come, Sing Australian Songs to Me!
John O’Brien
Come, Little One, and sing to me1921→Work & solidarity
Could I Hear the Kookaburras Once Again
John O’Brien
May a fading fancy hover round a gladness that is over?1921→Faith, ritual & community
Currajong
John O’Brien
Old Father Pat! They’ll tell you still with mingled love and pride1923→Bush life & work
His Father
John O’Brien
We meet him first in frills immersed,1921→City & society
Honeymooning From the Country
John O’Brien
To the rooms where I am dining in the glaring city’s day1921→Faith, ritual & community
Josephine
John O’Brien
The presbyt’ry has gone to pot since this housekeeper came;1920→Sea & travel
Laughing Mary
John O’Brien
With cheeks that paled the rosy morn1921→War & public life
Making Home
John O’Brien
No, you don’t quite get the meaning when the fun is at its height1921→Love & relationships
Moryah
John O’Brien
“Wisha, where is he goin’ to now1921→Sea & travel
Norah O’neill
John O’Brien
That Norah O’Neill is a sthreel,1921→Love & relationships
One by One
John O’Brien
With trust in God and her good man1921→Faith, ritual & community
Ownerless
John O’Brien
He comes when the gullies are wrapped in the gloaming1923→Love & relationships
Pitchin’ at the Church
John O’Brien
On the Sunday morning mustered,1921→Sea & travel
Said Hanrahan
John O’Brien
“We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,1921→Love & relationships
Said the White-haired Priest
John O’Brien
Said the white-haired priest, “So the boy has come,1921→Love & relationships
Six Brown Boxer Hats
John O’Brien
The hawker with his tilted cart pulled up beside the fence,1921→Love & relationships
St. Patrick’s Day
John O’Brien
’Tis the greatest splash of sunshine right through all my retrospection1921→Sea & travel
Tangmalangaloo
John O’Brien
The bishop sat in lordly state and purple cap sublime,1921→Faith, ritual & community
Teddo Wells, Deceased
John O’Brien
Times I thinks I’m not the man—1915→Love & relationships
Tell Me, What’s a Girl to Do?
John O’Brien
Tell me, what’s a girl to do1921→Sea & travel
Ten Little Steps and Stairs
John O’Brien
There were ten little Steps and Stairs.1921→Faith & community
The Altar-boy
John O’Brien
Now McEvoy was altar-boy1921→War & public life
The Birds Will Sing Again
John O’Brien
She saw The Helper standing near1921→Faith, ritual & community
The Careys
John O’Brien
Their new house stood just off the road,1920→City & society
The Church Upon the Hill
John O’Brien
A simple thing of knotted pine1921→Faith, ritual & community
The Helping Hand
John O’Brien
When that hour comes when I shall sit alone,1923→War & public life
The Kookaburras
John O’Brien
Fall the shadows on the gullies, fades the purple from the mountain;1921→Love & relationships
The Libel
John O’Brien
“The flowers have no scent, and the birds have no song,”1921→City & society
The Little Irish Mother
John O’Brien
Have you seen the tidy cottage in the straggling, dusty street,1921→Love & relationships
The Old Bush School
John O’Brien
’Tis a queer, old battered landmark that belongs to other years;1921→Sea & travel
The Old Mass Shandrydan
John O’Brien
I can see it in my dreaming o’er a gap of thirty years,1921→Faith, ritual & community
The Parting Rosary
John O’Brien
They have brought the news, Alannah, that I’ve waited for so long;1918→Faith, ritual & community
The Pillar of the Church
John O’Brien
Faith, ’tis great to see him steppin’ when the bell for Mass is flingin’1917→City & society
THE PRESBYT’RY DOG
John O’Brien
Now of all the old sinners in mischief immersed,1921→Love & relationships
The Tidy Little Body
John O’Brien
Faith, and little Miss McCroddie was the tidy little body,1921→Family, home & community
The Trimmin’s on the Rosary
John O’Brien
Ah, the memories that find me now my hair is turning gray,1921→Love & relationships
The Wiree’s Song
John O’Brien
The wiree sang that Christmas Day,1921→Faith, ritual & community
Vale, Father Pat
John O’Brien
Yes; there’s the hardest hand at all upon my frosted head—1915→Love & relationships
When Old Man Carey Died
John O’Brien
A night of wind and driving rain,1921→City & society
When the Circus Came to Town
John O’Brien
When the circus came to town1921→Love & relationships
Wisha, What Is the Matter with Jim?
John O’Brien
“Wisha, what is the matter with Jim, I dunno?1921→