"Past Past" Carin' by Henry Lawson with photos of "Migrant Mother".

   Past Carin'
by Henry Lawson

Now up and down the siding brown
The great black crows are flyin',
And down below the spur, I know,
Another `milker's' dyin';
The crops have withered from the ground,
The tank's clay bed is glarin',
But from my heart no tear nor sound,
For I have gone past carin' --
Past worryin' or carin',
Past feelin' aught or carin';
But from my heart no tear nor sound,
For I have gone past carin'.

Through Death and Trouble, turn about,
Through hopeless desolation,
Through flood and fever, fire and drought,
And slavery and starvation;
Through childbirth, sickness, hurt, and blight,
And nervousness an' scarin',
Through bein' left alone at night,
I've got to be past carin'.
Past botherin' or carin',
Past feelin' and past carin';
Through city cheats and neighbours' spite,
I've come to be past carin'.

Our first child took, in days like these,
A cruel week in dyin',
All day upon her father's knees,
Or on my poor breast lyin';
The tears we shed -- the prayers we said
Were awful, wild -- despairin'!
I've pulled three through, and buried two
Since then -- and I'm past carin'.
I've grown to be past carin',
Past worryin' and wearin';
I've pulled three through and buried two
Since then, and I'm past carin'.

'Twas ten years first, then came the worst,
All for a dusty clearin',
I thought, I thought my heart would burst
When first my man went shearin';
He's drovin' in the great North-west,
I don't know how he's farin';
For I, the one that loved him best,
Have grown to be past carin'.
I've grown to be past carin'
Past lookin' for or carin';
The girl that waited long ago,
Has lived to be past carin'.

My eyes are dry, I cannot cry,
I've got no heart for breakin',
But where it was in days gone by,
A dull and empty achin'.
My last boy ran away from me,
I know my temper's wearin',
But now I only wish to be
Beyond all signs of carin'.
Past wearyin' or carin',
Past feelin' and despairin';
And now I only wish to be
Beyond all signs of carin'.

                        HenryLawson

                                                                     Photo of Henry Lawson
                  HENRY LAWSON was born on the goldfields of New South Wales. He was the oldest son of a Norwegian sailor. For a time the Lawson family lived at the Gulgong goldfields. Henry Lawson's childhood was one of misery; there was little money and there were frequent family disagreements. His mother and father parted when Henry was 16. At this time, Lawson moved to Sydney, where his mother was involved with the women's movement and publishing. Three years later, Lawson joined his father who was then a building contractor. He eventually found work painting coaches and houses. Photo of Henry Lawson's funeral.
                  Lawson's poetry was first published when he was about 20 years of age. He wrote for various newspapers for about three years...until the 1890's depression when he found himself without employment. He lived in England for awhile; and some of his finest writing occurred there. He became ill and insolvent; and he returned to Australia.   His life from then on was one of physical and emotional decline.
                  Lawson is considered to be Australia's most famous writer. He is widely recognized as a poet of the people. He was the first Australian writer to be given a state funeral when he died. See photo to the right.

THE MIGRANT MOTHER

The photograph above, "Migrant Worker", captured the anguish and grief of a U.S. migrant mother in the same way that Lawson captured a mother's grief in his poem. It is one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made in 1936 . Lange photographed migratory farm labor around California for what was then the Resettlement Administration. Lange gave this account of the experience:

           I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it. (From: Popular Photography, Feb. 1960).


  I am indebted to David Campbell of Perth, Australia for the banner, top of page .

The poetry of Henry Lawson captures the heart of people everywhere; and it defies the pigeon holes of either place or time. His poem Past Carin' has a universal appeal. While he wrote about an Australian Bush woman, it could just as well have been about women everywhere. Hearts break in the U.S. and elsewhere the same as they did in the Australian bush...and Henry Lawson captured it in a way that few others have managed to do. I have presented it in conjunction with one of the most famous photographs to come out of the Great Depression in the U.S, "Migrant Mother" by Dorothea Lange for Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information .