the shearers dream

O'h, I dreampt i shore in a shearin'- shed, and it was a dream of joy,

For every one of the rouseabouts was a girl dressed up as a boy-----------

They had flaxen hair, they had coal black hair and ever shade in between.

There were short plump girls, there were tall, slim girls, and the handsomest ever seen,

There were four foot five, there was six foot high, and every height in between.

The sheds were cooled by electric fans that were over every chute,

the pens were of polished mahogany, and every thing 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 til all was blue------

the sheep were washed afore they was shore ( and the rams was scented too),

And we all of us wept when the shed cutout, is 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 was only a shearers dream

henry lawson