The Shearers Dream
Oh, I dreamt 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---
Dressed up like a page in a pantomine, and 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 height
between.
The shed was cooled by electric fans that was
over every shoot;
The pens was of polished ma-ho-gany and everything else to suit;
The huts had springs to the mattresses, and the tucker was simply
grand,
And every night by the billerbong 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 was
scented too);
And we all of us wept when the shed cut out, in spite of the long,
hot days,
For every hour them girls waltzed in with whisky and beer on
tr-a-a-a-ys!
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 'em picked
on me;
We was draftin' them out for the homeward track and sharin' 'em
round like steam,
When I woke with me head in the blazin' sun to
find 'twas a
shearers dream.
(Henry Lawson)