Ode to the Yarra (1890)
(BY A SUFFERER.)
Gigantic gutter ! sewer-receiving stream,Across whose breast the ferry-boat doth steam,
Thou who dost cherish many a mystic stink,
And fostereth many more upon thy brink,
At whose delicious scent e'en angels wink,
I think. Where can we find a blacker, inkier flood ?
Where sit the tranquil rats upon the mud,
And whisper to the decomposing cat
No more thou'lt scare away the gentle rat,
Or sit and yowl upon the doorstep mat ?.
I wot. The sad-eyed puppy and the gloomy goat
Together on thy peaceful bosom float
Deeming their tasks on earth are all complete,
Not dreaming they'll be used for sausage-meat
To heaven they point in resignation sweet,
Their feet. The anxious butcher with a hook in hand
Upon thy brink with eager eye doth stand,
In order to augment his weekly wages.
The reason why his time he thus engages
It grieves us to record upon these pages.
Sau-sages ! Sweet innocents of sport upon thy bank,
All heedless of their mother's threatened spank ;
Too oft, alas ! they tumble in, are drowned,
Thou buriest them-alas ! not underground,
But when the diver comes a-scraping round,
They're found ! Crawl on ! thou dank and dismal Yarra, crawl,
While we with bated breath thy praises scrawl,
By fertile meadows and by gum-trees tall,
By Merri Creek, by Kew Asylum's wall
The sweetest stream on this terrestial ball,
We bawl. Notes From Victorian Newspaper Mercury and Weekly Courier 6 Feb 1890 p. 3.