The breezes waved the silver grass, <br />Waist-high along the siding, <br />And to the creek we ne'er could pass <br />Three boys on bare-back riding; <br />Beneath the sheoaks in the bend <br />The waterhole was brimming - <br />Do you remember yet, old friend, <br />The times we 'went in swimming'? <br /> <br />The days we 'played the wag' from school - <br />Joys shared - and paid for singly - <br />The air was hot, the water cool - <br />And naked boys are kingly! <br />With mud for soap the sun to dry - <br />A well planned lie to stay us, <br />And dust well rubbed on neck and face <br />Lest cleanliness betray us. <br /> <br />And you'll remember farmer Kutz - <br />Though scarcely for his bounty - <br />He leased a forty-acre block, <br />And thought he owned the county; <br />A farmer of the old world school, <br />That grew men hard and grim in, <br />He drew his water from the pool <br />That we preferred to swim in. <br /> <br />And do you mind when down the creek <br />His angry way he wended, <br />A green-hide cartwhip in his hand <br />For our young backs intended? <br />Three naked boys upon the sand - <br />Half buried and half sunning - <br />Three startled boys without their clothes <br />Across the paddocks running. <br /> <br />We've had some scares, but we looked blank <br />When, resting there and chumming, <br />One glanced by chance upon the bank <br />And saw the farmer coming! <br />And home inmpressions linger yet <br />Of cups of sorrow brimming; <br />I hardly think that we'll forget <br />The last day we went swimming.<br /><br />Henry Lawson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-days-when-we-went-swimming/
