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C J Dennis - The Mellowing Of Joe
Work rating: Low

When the Laborites and Liberals are bickering,
   Are a-calling and a-bawling in the House,
And the strangers in the gallery are snickering,
   As the members rear on end and loudly "rouse,"
There`s a voice they miss amid the vocal thundering,
   A voice that led the howl a while ago.
And the people in the precincts are a-wondering
   What has happened to the erstwhile acid Joe.


For no longer does he lead his noisy following
   With a cheering or a sneering to the fray;
But they watch him sitting silently a-swallowing
   All the gibes they hurl at him across the way.
And, as others mark his silence `mid the bellowing
   And the bawling of the blatant party cry,
Then they realise that Joseph is a-mellowing;
   He`s a-mellowing as time goes by.


When the Affable`s a-sobbing and a-sorrowing
   O`er the "precipices," "chasms" and the "brinks,"
And the Ministry`s antipathy to borrowing,
   Joseph mellows as he sits and sadly thinks.
Sits and mellows `mid the bellows of his following,
   While the howls of Willy Kelly smite his ear,
While the Fusion in confusion is a-wallowing
   And the green, unripened members bawl "Hear, hear!"


There is something that is sobering and saddening,
   In the autumn of political careers;
And the thoughts of former verdancy are maddening
   As a member mellows with the passing years.
For his greenness and his meanness set him shivering;
   And he solemnly begins to ask himself,
As he feels the tree political a-quivering:
   "Will I ripen on the bough or on the shelf?"


But the verdancy of Joseph is a-vanishing,
   Whereat right-thinking citizens rejoice.
All his sourness and his dourness he is banishing;
   You may note the alteration in his voice.
Though it is not yet attuned to softest `cello-ing,
   `Twill be sweeter, meeker music by-and-bye:
For `tis evident that Joseph is a-mellowing,
   He`s a-mellowing as time goes by.
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