Compensation by C.J. Dennis

Through forcing her to put her house in order for the future, the hard times now being experienced in Australia may well prove an eventual blessing.

Oh, the days of full and plenty --
   Careless days we used to know --
Five, ten, fifteen, twenty,
   Thirty, forty years ago --
Days when we could spend and borrow,
   Spend again, with ne'er a fear --
Ne'er a thought about tomorrow.
   But, alas, tomorrow's here.

Oh, the days of easy living,
   When we took no thought to save
From the wealth of harvests: giving
   Free as ever harvests gave.
Freely getting, freely spending --
   Easy come and easy go --
Counting on a life unending
   Of the days we used to know.

Now descend the days distressing,
   Ordered by a kindly fate --
Kindly, since it counts a blessing
   That they come not over-late --
That they come while yet a nation,
   Doomed thro' ease to dull decay,
May, by labor, win salvation
   Ere its strength be filched away.

Not for us the futile rueing,
   Dwelling on the future, glum,
Ours to now be up and doing
   For the brave days yet to come --
For the days of full and plenty
   That are looming, late or soon.
Wealth, that was a drug at twenty,
   With man's wisdom is a boon.

First published in The Herald, 8 March 1930