The Shepherd

(Air: She Wore a Wreath of Roses.)     He wore an old blue shirt the night that first we met,     An old and tattered cabbage-tree concealed his locks of jet;     His footsteps had a languor, his voice a husky tone;     Both man and dog were spent with toil as they slowly wandered home.                                          Chorus          I saw him but a momentyet methinks I see him now          While his sheep were gently feeding neath the rugged mountain brow.     When next we met, the old blue shirt and cabbage-tree were gone;     A brand new suit of tweed and Doctor Dod he had put on;     Arm in arm with him was one who strove, and not in vain,     To ease his pockets of their load by drinking real champagne.          I saw him but a moment, and he was going a pace,          Shouting nobbler after nobbler, with a smile upon his face.     When next again I saw that man his suit of tweed was gone,     The old blue shirt and cabbage-tree once more he had put on;     Slowly he trudged along the road and took the well-known track     From the station he so lately left with a swag upon his back.          I saw him but a moment as he was walking by          With two black eyes and broken nose and a tear-drop in his eye.