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Henry Lawson

The Free

 
I met her on the Lachlan Side—
A darling girl I thought her,
And ere I left I swore I’d win
The free-selector’s daughter.
 
I milked her father’s cows a month,
I brought the wood and water,
I mended all the broken fence,
Before I won the daughter.
 
I listened to her father’s yarns,
I did just what I 'oughter’,
And what you’ll have to do to win
A free-selector’s daughter.
 
I broke my pipe and burnt my twist,
And washed my mouth with water;
I had a shave before I kissed
The free-selector’s daughter.
 
Then, rising in the frosty morn,
I brought the cows for Mary,
And when I’d milked a bucketful
I took it to the dairy.
 
I poured the milk into the dish
While Mary held the strainer,
I summoned heart to speak my wish,
And, oh! her blush grew plainer.
 
I told her I must leave the place,
I said that I would miss her;
At first she turned away her face,
And then she let me kiss her.
 
I put the bucket on the ground,
And in my arms I caught her:
I’d give the world to hold again
That free-selector’s daughter!

#AustralianWriters

Other works by Henry Lawson...
A Bush Girl

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Stand by the Engines

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A Slight Misunderstanding at the Jasper Gate

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Old Stone Chimney

The rising moon on the peaks was b… Her silver light with the sunset g… When a swagman came as the day was… Along a path that he seemed to kno… But all the fences were gone or go…
Shearers Dream

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Nineteen Nine

There’s a light out there in the n… In the dawn of Nineteen Nine; There’€™s the old ghost light in t… Where the black rocks meet the bri… Here’€™s the same old strife and t…
The Flour Bin

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Scots of the Riverina

The boy cleared out to the city fr… They were Scots of the Riverina,… The old man burned his letters, th… And he scratched his name from the… A year went past and another. The…
The Glass on the Bar

Three bushmen one morning rode up… And one of them called for the dri… They’d only returned from a trip t… And, eager to greet them, the land… He absently poured out a glass of…
The Outside Track

There were ten of us there on the… And one on the for’ard hatch; No straighter mate to his mates th… Had ever said: ‘Len’s a match!’ “’Twill be long, old man, ere our…
The Wattle [No better Right Than I]

I saw it in the days gone by, When the dead girl lay at rest, And the wattle and the native rose We placed upon her breast. I saw it in the long ago
The Old Stockman’s Lament

Wrap me up in me stockwhip and bla… And bury me deep down below, Where this piffle and sham won’t d… In the land where the coolibahs gr… For I’ve stayed with some well-to…
Lay Your Ears Back and Fight

WHEN you drink of what the poets… And yer mouth, in spite of laughin… Do not whine for help or pity; nev… Lay yer list’€™ners back and fight… Though the world on empty pockets…



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