Briany Poem by Francis Duggan

Briany



Briany that gray haired fellow his bronzed skin wrinkled and dry
He spent years north in the tropics where the sun burns in the sky
Shearing merinos for a living in Queensland north of Mackay
Sweating for his hard earned dollars in the heat of Summer day.

Thirty years as a sheep shearer till he gave the job away
Shearing is for younger fellow that is what old Briany say
Look at me I'm not yet sixty I look older bald and gray
Good shearers may earn good money but they work hard for their pay.

Briany only talks of shearing when he has a few drinks in
If you ask him then he'll tell you I shore with the best of men
I could hold my own with any in the humid shearing shed
And I would say I had a poor day had I not shorn two hundred head.

I earnt big money when shearing but I was never money smart
Women and booze took my earnings 'a fool and his money part'.
Went to nearest town at weekend I had a week's pay to spend
Visited brothels and drank my wages and I was not short of a friend.

Briany the ex sheep shearer money could not seem to keep
And every dollar was hard earned it is hard work shearing sheep
He works in suburban factory I am happier now he say
Shearing is for younger fellow and that's why I gave it away.

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