{{Short description|1919 poem by Patrick Joseph Hartigan}} {{Use Australian English|date=July 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox poem | name = "Said Hanrahan" | image = | image_size = | caption = | subtitle = | author = John O'Brien | original_title = | original_title_lang = | translator = | written = 1919 | first = ''The Catholic Press'' | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = Australia | language = English | series = | subject = | genre = | form = | meter = | rhyme = | publisher = | publication_date = July 1919 | publication_date_en = | media_type = | lines = | pages = | size_weight = | isbn = | oclc = | preceded_by = | followed_by = | wikisource = }} '''"Said Hanrahan"''' is a poem written by the Australian bush poet John O'Brien, the pen name of Roman Catholic priest Patrick Joseph Hartigan.<ref name="ADB">{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id2=hartigan-patrick-joseph-6593 |last=Walsh |first=G. P. |title=Patrick Joseph Hartigan (1878–1952) |year=1983 |volume=9 |access-date=2009-08-20}}</ref> The poem's earliest known publication was in July 1919 in ''The Catholic Press'',<ref>{{cite news|last1=O'Brien|first1=John|title=Said Hanrahan|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106072280|access-date=30 November 2017|work=The Catholic Press|date=31 July 1919|page=19}}</ref> appearing in 1921 in the anthology ''Around the Boree Log and Other Verses''.<ref name="ADB" />
The poem describes the recurrent natural cycle of droughts, floods and bushfires in rural Australia as seen by "Hanrahan", a pessimistic man of Irish descent. "'We'll all be rooned', said Hanrahan"—an adage extracted from the poem—has entered the Australian English lexicon.
==Poem Description== The poem starts with the area in the grip of a drought, the worst since "the banks went bad"; a reference to the drought and banking crisis of the early 1890s.
:''"If we don't get three inches, man,'' ::''Or four to break this drought,'' :''We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,'' ::''"Before the year is out."''
In time, the rains "drummed a homely tune" on "iron roof and window-pane". The problem then changed from drought to flood. "Banker" refers to a watercourse filled from bank to bank, unusual in Australia where many watercourses are ephemeral or only intermittently full.
:''And every creek a banker ran,'' ::''And dams filled overtop;'' :''"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,'' ::''"If this rain doesn't stop."''
"In God's good time" the rain stopped and spring arrived with "harvest-hopes immense". The "knee-deep" grass, while good for feeding livestock, brought to mind the risk of bushfire.
:''"There'll be bush-fires for sure, me man,'' ::''There will, without a doubt;'' :''We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,'' ::''"Before the year is out."''
==Popular culture== The key refrain in the poem is "We'll all be rooned" ("rooned" is a transcription of an Irish Australian pronunciation of "ruined") which has entered the Australian lexicon as a dismissive response to predictions of disasters or hard times,<ref name="ANDC">{{cite web|url=http://www.anu.edu.au/ANDC/res/aus_words/aewords/aewords_hr.php|title=Australian Words: H-R |work=Australian National Dictionary Centre|publisher=Australian National University|access-date=2009-08-20}}</ref> especially those out of the control of the speakers.
==The Poem== SAID HANRAHAN
:"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, :In accents most forlorn, :Outside the church, ere Mass began, :One frosty Sunday morn.
:The congregation stood about, :Coat-collars to the ears, :And talked of stock, and crops, and drought, :As it had done for years.
:"It's lookin' crook," said Daniel Croke; :"Bedad, it's cruke, me lad, :For never since the banks went broke :Has seasons been so bad."
:"It's dry, all right," said young O'Neil, :With which astute remark :He squatted down upon his heel :And chewed a piece of bark.
:And so around the chorus ran :"It's keepin' dry, no doubt." :"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, :"Before the year is out.
:"The crops are done; ye'll have your work :To save one bag of grain; :From here way out to Back-o'-Bourke :They're singin' out for rain.
:"They're singin' out for rain," he said, :"And all the tanks are dry." :The congregation scratched its head, :And gazed around the sky.
:"There won't be grass, in any case, :Enough to feed an ass; :There's not a blade on Casey's place :As I came down to Mass."
:"If rain don't come this month," said Dan, :And cleared his throat to speak-- :"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, :"If rain don't come this week."
:A heavy silence seemed to steal :On all at this remark; :And each man squatted on his heel, :And chewed a piece of bark.
:"We want a inch of rain, we do," :O'Neil observed at last; :But Croke "maintained" we wanted two :To put the danger past.
:"If we don't get three inches, man, :Or four to break this drought, :We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, :"Before the year is out."
:In God's good time down came the rain; :And all the afternoon :On iron roof and window-pane :It drummed a homely tune.
:And through the night it pattered still, :And lightsome, gladsome elves :On dripping spout and window-sill :Kept talking to themselves.
:It pelted, pelted all day long, :A-singing at its work, :Till every heart took up the song :Way out to Back-o'Bourke.
:And every creek a banker ran, :And dams filled overtop; :"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, :"If this rain doesn't stop."
:And stop it did, in God's good time; :And spring came in to fold :A mantle o'er the hills sublime :Of green and pink and gold.
:And days went by on dancing feet, :With harvest-hopes immense, :And laughing eyes beheld the wheat :Nid-nodding o'er the fence.
:And, oh, the smiles on every face, :As happy lad and lass :Through grass knee-deep on Casey's place :Went riding down to Mass.
:While round the church in clothes genteel :Discoursed the men of mark, :And each man squatted on his heel, :And chewed his piece of bark.
:"There'll be bush-fires for sure, me man, :There will, without a doubt; :We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, :"Before the year is out."
John O'Brien
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{wikisource}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090831072211/http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/hobbs Questioning Hanrahan: Environmental optimism and realism in the 21st century] *[http://www.govhouse.qld.gov.au/the_governor/guaddress.aspx Address by the Governor of Queensland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090913054550/http://www.govhouse.qld.gov.au/the_governor/guaddress.aspx |date=2009-09-13 }}
Category:Australian poems Category:1921 poems Category:Irish-Australian culture Category:Works about philosophical pessimism