The sheep are all washed and the fleeces look white,
The yards are all full -- a most beautiful sight;
Then fill up the pens, and each brawny arm bare,
Quick ! each man to his post, and for shearing prepare.
Then clip, boys, clip;
'Tis music in the ears,
The click, click, click,
Of the sharp and sparkling shears.
Leave the wife and the children alone for awhile--
The woolshed just now every thought must beguile;
Their hearts will be gladder, and sweet their delight,
When the fruits of your labour are spread to their sight;
The clip, boys, ...
Come wanderers, come - let your sadness be gone--
There's a home for ye now, for the shearing is on ;
With hearts again light, to the woolshed repair,
And lay down the swag, for there's work for ye there.
Then clip, boys, ...
Of the sharp and sparkling shears.
'Tis a glorious time when the summer comes round,
And "shearing began !" is a glorious sound;
For hundreds who long have been poverty thrilled,
May bend o'er the fleece till their pockets are fill'd.
Then clip, boys, ...
John Alexander MacPherson
Notes
From the Victorian Newspaper Hamilton Spectator and Grange District Advertiser 9 Nov 1864 p. 3.
Many thanks to Daniel Clark for alerting me to this song which must be one of the the earliest shearing songs to be published in an Australian Newspaper.
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