[Editor: This poem by Mary Gilmore was published in Australian Poetry 1942 (1942), during the Second World War (1939-1945).]
Nationality
I have grown past hate and bitterness,
I see the world as one;
Yet, though I can no longer hate,
My son is still my son.
All men at God’s round table sit
And all men must be fed;
But this loaf in my hand,
This loaf is my son’s bread.
Published in:
Robert D. Fitzgerald (editor), Australian Poetry 1942, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1942, p. 18
Also published in:
Mary Gilmore, Fourteen Men, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1954, p. 2 [starts third line with “But”]
The Chronicle (Adelaide, SA), Thursday 4 February 1954, page 31 [starts third line with “Yet,”]
Mary Gilmore, Selected Verse, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1969 (enlarged edition; first published 1948), p. 287 [starts third line with “But”]
The Canberra Times (Canberra, ACT), Saturday 1 November 1969, page 19 [starts third line with “But”]
Katherine Gallagher, “The Collected Verse of Mary Gilmore, Volume 2, 1930-1962 edited by Jennifer Strauss” [PDF], Reviews in Australian Studies (London), vol. 3 no. 7 (2008) [a review of The Collected Verse of Mary Gilmore, Volume 2, 1930-1962; gives the date of Mary Gilmore writing the poem as 12 May 1942; starts third line with “But”]
Editor’s notes:
The third line in the 1942 version starts with “Yet,” (“Yet, though I can no longer hate,”); however, later published versions of the poem start with “But” (“But though I can no longer hate,”).
This poem has been read into the Hansard record in the Australian parliament and the New South Wales parliament:
1994: “Ministerial Statements: Strategic Review 1993”, Parliament of Australia, Tuesday, 22 March 1994, page 1851 [read by Graeme Campbell (Australian Labor Party), Member of the House of Representatives, representing Kalgoorlie, WA]
1997: “Human Rights Legislation Amendment Bill 1996: Second Reading”, Parliament of Australia, Thursday 19 June 1997, page 5819 [also available as a PDF file] [read by Graeme Campbell (independent), Member of the House of Representatives, representing Kalgoorlie, WA]
2000: “Full Day Hansard Transcript (Legislative Council, Corrected Copy)”, Parliament of New South Wales, Thursday 31 August 2000 [also available in the shorter record “Bingara Orange Festival”, page 8585] [read by Jennifer Ann Gardiner (National Party), Member of the NSW Legislative Council]
2014: “Parliamentary Representation: Valedictory”, Parliament of Australia, Tuesday, 24 June 2014, page 3758 [read by Senator Stephens (Australian Labor Party), Senator for New South Wales]
Mary Gilmores’ poem is a sounding of the truth that echoes in all people. We all have feelings for others, but when you are pushed you find you are only an animal. People pretend that they have lost this instinct. But all people should should know that we are only animals driven by hormones and desire to breed, to fit into our pack and find our place within it. I say to everyone would you see your child go without to give to another unknown, would you miss your child’s milestones and give up their needs to work to support another person’s child. This is a thought all governments must respect. We are animals and deserve at least the same natural process as any wild creature.
We are evolving ourselves out of existence.
We are two pieces of an apple,
Cut from the middle
Knows us the knife
He is a creative artist
To complete, you do not need to stick together
Wherever we are, knife blade knows us
We are not afraid of cutting
He has learned the charm of the devil
If everyone’s son and daughter had a loaf of bread, we’d have passed the dependence on nationalism.