The Outside Track

There were ten of us there on the moonlit quay,     And one on the forard hatch;     No straighter mate to his mates than he     Had ever said: Lens a match!     "Twill be long, old man, ere our glasses clink,     Twill be long ere we grip your hand!",     And we dragged him ashore for a final drink     Till the whole wide world seemed grand.     For they marry and go as the world rolls back,     They marry and vanish and die;     But their spirit shall live on the Outside Track     As long as the years go by.     The port-lights glowed in the morning mist     That rolled from the waters green;     And over the railing we grasped his fist     As the dark tide came between.     We cheered the captain and cheered the crew,     And our mate, times out of mind;     We cheered the land he was going to     And the land he had left behind.     We roared Lang Syne as a last farewell,     But my heart seemed out of joint;     I well remember the hush that fell     When the steamer had passed the point     We drifted home through the public bars,     We were ten times less by one     Who sailed out under the morning stars,     And under the rising sun.     And one by one, and two by two,     They have sailed from the wharf since then;     I have said good-bye to the last I knew,     The last of the careless men.     And I cant but think that the times we had     Were the best times after all,     As I turn aside with a lonely glass     And drink to the bar-room wall.     But Ill try my luck for a cheque Out Back,     Then a last good-bye to the bush;     For my hearts away on the Outside Track,     On the track of the steerage push.