Poem by Clarence James Dennis

The Broken Sanctuary

I 'ad been bushed in city streets,
  Where the bricks and mortar grow.
I 'ad worked me way through the northern towns
  'Oo's landmarks I don't know.
There was faces, faces, driftin' past,
  But never a one I knoo.
An' I never 'ad felt the need so great
  For a reel good mate an' true.

A lonely man in the Outback lands
  Is a lonely man, all right.
Yet 'e 'as the sky an' the birds by day
  An' 'e 'as the stars by night.
But a lonely man in a crowd o' men
  Is the loneliest of all,
An' that's 'ow come I 'ad a few;
  An' that's 'ow come my fall.

Fer I sez to meself, "I'm a stranger 'ere,
  An' there ain't a soul I know."
Then I thinks of a Mate I alwiz 'ad
  Where the stunted mulgas grow -
The Man 'oo ever 'as been my friend
  Through many a black bush night;
An' I thinks, "If I find His house round 'ere,
  He'll give me a doss, all right."

An' I come to His house as I stumbled on,
  An' I found the door ajar;
As it alwiz stands in the Christian lands
  Fer blokes that wander far;
So up I crep' to the altar step,
  An' I sez . . . "I'm 'ere again."
I knew He'd spare what nap was there,
  So I lodged with the Mate of Men.

Yes: I found His house, an' I lay me down,
  An' I dreamed of a kindly God;
When a big policeman came along
  An' banged me into quod.
An' the cell was cold, an' the bed was 'ard;
  But I thinks, "It's all right, Bill."
So I lay me down an' dreamed again . .
  An' my Mate was with me still.

1. Growing Up
2. A Different Route
3. The Triantiwontigongolope
4. Before the War
5. West

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