Andrew Barton Paterson (17 February 1864 – 5 February 1941 / New South Wales)
Cassidy's Epitaph
Here lies a bloke who's just gone West,
A Number One Australian;
He took his gun and did his best
To mitigate the alien.
So long as he could get to work
He needed no sagacity;
A German, Austrian, or Turk,
Were all the same to Cassidy.
Wherever he could raise "the stuff"
-- A liquor deleterious --
The question when he'd have enough
Was apt to be mysterious.
'Twould worry prudent folks a lot
Through mental incapacity;
If he could keep it down or not,
Was all the same to Cassidy.
And when the boys would start a dance,
In honour of Terpsichore,
'Twas just an even-money chance
You'd find him rather shickery.
But once he struck his proper stride,
And heard the band's vivacity,
The jazz, the tango, or the slide
Was all the same to Cassidy.
And now he's gone to face the Light,
With all it may reveal to him,
A life without a drink or fight
Perhaps may not appeal to him;
But when St Peter calls the roll
Of men of proved tenacity,
You'll find the front-rank right-hand man
Will answer; "Here . . . Cassidy."
Read poems about / on: money, dance, work, light
PoemHunter.com Updates
-
HIV Vaccine Awareness Day
observed annually on May 18
-
International Museum Day
memory + creativity = social change
-
Happy Birthday Omar Khayyam!
(1048-1131) Persian mathematician, poet, and philosopher
-
Happy Birthday Friedrich Rückert!
(1788-1866) German poet, translator, and professor of Oriental languages.
Top 500 Poems
-
Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou
-
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
-
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou
-
If You Forget Me
Pablo Neruda
-
Dreams
Langston Hughes
-
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
-
If
Rudyard Kipling
-
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
-
A Dream Within A Dream
Edgar Allan Poe
-
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou

Comments about this poem (Cassidy's Epitaph by Andrew Barton Paterson )