On The Shame Of Going Back Poem by Francis Duggan

The great Australian poet Henry Lawson once wrote a poem on the shame of going back
With little money in your pockets and your mental moods quite black
From your travels in the big World you have little for to show
Without money and lots of it few of you do wish to know

On returning to the home place after many years away
And your features with age wrinkles and your receding hair now gray
And few do recognize you on the streets of your hometown
You are never one of interest when financially you are down

In life you have known adventure but nothing in material gain
It is only the lure of nostalgia that has brought you back home again
And they show little interest in you now your friends of the past
That you have fallen on hard times such news does travel fast

You are home for a brief visit though you had planned a longer stay
Better for you where you are unknown in a big town far away
From the place where you were raised in where you first saw the lamp of day
Many who know you of you judgmental suppose some people are this way

The great poet Henry Lawson wrote a poem on the shame of going back
With empty pockets to your hometown after years on the travel track
In a human World of winners losers are not recognized
This is something that the poet on returning home had realized.