John Barr

John Barr Poems

John Barr Biography

John Barr of Craigilee (1809-1889) was a Scottish-New Zealand poet. Born in Paisley, Scotland in 1809, Barr moved to Otago in 1852, and farmed a property at Halfway Bush. In 1857 he moved with his wife Mary and their four children to Balclutha, and established a farm which he called Craigilee. He was the founder of the New Zealand Robert Burns Society. In his time, he was considered the Laureate of Otago province, of which he wrote, in Lowland Scots: There's nae place like Otago yet, There's nae wee beggar weans, Or auld men shivering at our doors To beg for scraps or banez Allen Curnow described his writing as "this Scots-colonial parritch... watery gruel at the best.")

The Best Poem Of John Barr

A Song Of Light

There have plenty songs been written,
Of the moonlight on the hill,
Of the starlight on the ocean,
And the sun-flecks on the rill,

But one glorious song has never
Fallen yet upon my ear,
’Tis a royal song of gladness,
Of the gaslight on the beer.

I have watched an amber sunset,
Creep across a black-faced bay;
I have seen the blood-flushed sunrise,
Paint the snow one winter day,

But the gleam I will remember
Best, in lingering days to come,
Was s shaft of autumn radiance,
Lying on a pint of rum.

I have seen the love stars shining,
Through bronze hair across my face,
I have seen white bosoms heaving,
’Neath a wisp of open lace,

But resplendent yet in memory –
And it seemeth brighter far –
Was a guttered candle’s flicker,
On a tankard in a bar . . .

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