Henry Lawson (Генри Лоусон)

The Loveable Characters

I long for the streets but the Lord knoweth best, 
For there I am never a saint; 
There are lovable characters out in the West, 
With humour heroic and quaint; 
And, be it Up Country, or be it Out Back, 
When I shall have gone to my Home, 
I trust to be buried ’twixt River and Track 
Where my lovable characters roam. 

There are lovable characters drag through the scrub, 
Where the Optimist ever prevails; 
There are lovable characters hang round the pub, 
There are lovable jokers at sales 
Where the auctioneer’s one of the lovable wags 
(Maybe from his ”order” estranged), 
And the beer is on tap, and the pigs in the bags 
Of the purchasing cockies are changed. 

There were lovable characters out in the West, 
Of fifty hot summers, or more, 
Who could not be proved, when it came to the test, 
Too old to be sent to the war; 
They were all forty-five and were orphans, they said, 
With no one to keep them, or keep; 
And mostly in France, with the world’s bravest dead, 
Those lovable characters sleep. 

I long for the streets, but the Lord knoweth best, 
For there I am never a saint; 
There are lovable characters out in the West, 
With humour heroic and quaint; 
And, be it Up Country, or be it Out Back, 
When I shall have gone to my Home, 
I trust to be buried ’twixt River and Track 
Where my lovable characters roam.

1. Since Then
2. The Song of Old Joe Swallow
3. When the `Army’ Prays for Watty
4. The Outside Track
5. The Days When We Went Swimming

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