The Good Old Concertina

1891

Henry Lawson


’TWAS merry when the hut was full
    Of jolly girls and fellows.
We danced and sang until we burst
    The concertina’s bellows.
From distant Darling to the sea,
    From the Downs to Riverina,
Has e’er a gum in all the west
    Not heard the concertina?

’Twas peaceful round the campfire blaze,
    The long white branches o’er us;
We’d play the tunes of bygone days,
    To some good old bush chorus.
Old Erin’s harp may sweeter be,
    The Scottish pipes blow keener;
But sing an old bush song for me
    To the good old concertina.

’Twas cosy by the hut-fire bright
    When the pint pot passed between us;
We drowned the voice of the stormy night
    With the good old concertina’s.
Though trouble drifts along the years,
    And the pangs of care grow keener,
My heart is gladdened when it hears
    That good old concertina.


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