Lyrics The Bush Girl - Gary Shearston

The Bush Girl

So you rode from the range where your brothers select
Through the ghostly, grey bush in the dawn
You rode slowly at first, lest her heart should suspect
That you were so glad to be gone;
You had scarcely the courage to glance back at her
By the homestead receding from view
And you breathed with relief as you rounded the spur
For the world was a wide world to you…
Grey eyes that grow sadder than sunset or rain
Fond heart that is ever more true…
Firm faith that grows firmer for watching in vain
She’ll wait by the slip rails for you
Ah!
the world is a new and a wide one to you
But the world to your sweetheart is shut;
For a change never comes to the lonely bush homes
From the stockyard, the bush, and the hut;
And the only relief from the dullness she feels
When ridges grow softened and dim;
And away in the dusk to the slip rails she steals
To dream of past meetings «with him»
Grey eyes that grow sadder than sunset or rain
Fond heart that is ever more true…
Firm faith that grows firmer for watching in vain
She’ll wait by the slip rails for you
Do you think, where, in place of bare fences, dry creeks
Clear streams and green hedges are seen
Where the girls have the lily and rose in their cheeks
And the grass in midsummer is green
Do you think, now and then, now or then in the whirl
Of the city, while London is new
Of that hut in the bush and the freckled faced girl
Who is eating her heart out for you?
Grey eyes that grow sadder than sunset or rain
Bruised heart that is ever more true…
Fond faith that is firmer for trusting in vain
She waits by the slip rails for you