The Yellow Robin

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)



I'm the friendliest of them all,
When winter comes;
Daily at your door I call
Begging crumbs.
Clinging sideways to a stake,
Eloquent appeal I make.
'Spare a scrap for pity's sake!
 This cold air numbs.'

I will follow as you dig
 And search the dirt.
Worms or bettles, small or big,
 Are my dessert;
And, should you seem gently kind,
From your hand I do not mind
Taking anything you find;
 But I'm a flirt.

For when spring comes to the land
 You are forgot.
I have great affairs on hand
 As days wax hot.
Should I pass you, I pretend
To ignore my winter's friend;
Intimacy's at an end;
 I know you not.

Yet, when winter comes once more,
 And summer ends,
You will find me at your door
 To make amends;
Clinging sideways to a stake,
Eloquent appeal I'll make:
'Spare a scrap for pity's sake!
 Aw, let's be friends!'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

48 sec read
114

Quick analysis:

Scheme ababCcCb dedefffe ghghiiih jkjkCcCk
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 790
Words 157
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis, better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet known for his humorous poems, especially "The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke", published in the early 20th century. Though Dennis's work is less well known today, his 1915 publication of The Sentimental Bloke sold 65,000 copies in its first year, and by 1917 he was the most prosperous poet in Australian history. Together with Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson, both of whom he had collaborated with, he is often considered among Australia's three most famous poets. While attributed to Lawson by 1911, Dennis later claimed he himself was the 'laureate of the larrikin'. When he died at the age of 61, the Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons suggested he was destined to be remembered as the 'Australian Robert Burns'. more…

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