"Outside"

Henry Lawson, 1910

      I want to be lighting my pipe on deck,
             With my baggage safe below —
      I want to be free of the crowded quay,
             While the steamer's swinging slow.
      I want to be free of treachery,
             And of sordid joys and griefs —
      To be out of sight of the faces white,
             And the waving of handkerchiefs.

      I want to be making my ship-board friends,
             I want to be free of the past —
      I want to be laughing with kindred souls,
             While the Heads are opening fast.
      I want to be sailing far to-day,
             On the tracks where the rovers go,
      To feel the heave of the deck, and draw
             The breath that the rovers know.