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         Jack M'Camley,
         Lank and long,
      Ox-persuader,
         Billabong.
      Bluff and hearty
      Sort o' party,
Got the "blanky" habit strong!

      Says the parson,
         Bright old bird,
      "Why'd you use that
         Horrid word? -
      (Jack looked grinful) -
      Not say sinful,
But most vulgar and absurd!"

      "It's the blanky
         Church, betwixt
      You and me, that
         Got me fixed!"
      Says M'Camley,
      "In our fam'ly
Things is all so blanky mixed!

      "There's me father -
         Whoa back, Dick! -
      Church o' Blanky
         England, stric'!
      There's me mother
      And one brother,
Roman-Blanky-Catholic!

      "But me sister -
         Way, you Stan!
      Don't them bullocks
         Rile a man?
      Kilts enticed her,
      Went and spliced a
Presby-Blanky-terian!"

First published in The Bulletin, 11 June 1898;
and later in
Anthology of Australian Religious Poetry edited by Les Murray, 1986; and
The Oxford Book of Australian Light Verse edited by R.F. Brissenden and Philip Grundy, 1991.

Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Poetry Library

See also.

I saw a Parson on a bike --
   A parody on things --
His coat-tails flapped behind him like
   A pair of caudal wings.

His coat was of a shiny green,
   His hat was rusty brown;
He was a weird, wild sight, I ween,
   Careering through the town.

What perched him on a wheel at all,
  And made him race and rip?
Had he, perchance, a sudden call
   To some rich rectorship?

He'd no such call; he raced and ran
   To kneel and pray beside
The bedside of a dying man,
   Who poor as Peter died.

I saw a Prelate, plump and fine,
   Who gleamed with sanctity;
He was the finest-groomed divine
   That you could wish to see.

His smile was bland; his air was grand;
   His coat was black, and shone
As did the tents of Kedar and
   The robes of Solomon.

And in a carriage fine and fair
   He lounged in lordly ease --
It was a carriage and a pair --
   And nursed his gaitered knees.

And whither went he, and what for,
   With all this pomp and show?
He went to see the Governor,
   And that is all I know.

But in a vision of the night,
   When deep dreams come to men,
I saw a strange and curious sight --
   The Prelate once again.

He sat ungaitered, and undone,
   A picture of dismay --
His carriage was too broad to run
   Along the Narrow Way!

But, with his coat-tails flapping like
   Black caudal wings in wrath,
I saw the Parson on the bike
   Sprint up the Shining Path.

First published in The Bulletin, 5 May 1904;
and later in
The Penguin Book of Australian Humorous Verse edited by Bill Scott, 1984;
Anthology of Australian Religious Verse edited by Les Murray, 1986;
An Australian Treasury of Popular Verse edited by Jim Haynes, 2002; and
Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Kathrine Bell, 2007.

Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library

See also.