The Shearers Dream
O I dreamt I shore in a shearing shed and it was a dream of joy For every one of the rouseabouts was a girl dressed up as a boy Dressed up like a page in a pantomime the prettiest ever seen They had flaxen hair they had coal black hair and every shade between There was short plump girls there was tall slim girls and the handsomest ever seen They was four foot five they was six foot high and every shade between The shed was cooled by electric fans that was over every shoot The pens was of polished mahogany and everything else to suit The huts had springs to the mattresses and the tucker was simply grand And every night by the billabong we danced to a German band Our pay was the wool on the jumbucks’ backs so we shore till all was blue The sheep was washed afore they was shore and the rams were scented too And we all of us cried when the shed cut out in spite of the long hot days For every hour them girls waltzed in with whisky and beer on trays There was three of them girls to every chap and as jealous as they could be There was three of them girls to every chap and six of them picked on me We was drafting them out for the homeward track and sharing them round like steam When I woke with my head in the blazing sun to find it a shearer’s dream
Henry Lawson’s other poems:
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