Enh, what happened there--it dropped the text and left the commentary. (maybe an html thing) trying againClinton beat me to the punch, mostly, but here's more verses!
Not in the DT! Here's the complete text of the poem , I think. Most singers do not include the first verse and final chorus, which were not sung by Garnet Rogers on his recording (album also called The Outside Track) which most of us learned it from. Garnet made the interesting observation once that Lawson's poems were generally regarded as cliched sentimental doggerel when they appeared--and they are!--but that they make great songs. (He's converted several more of them).
The Outside Track by Henry Lawson
There were ten of us there on the moonlit quay,
And one on the forward hatch.
No straighter mate to his mates than he
Ever said, "Old Len's a match!
'Twill be long, old man, ere our glasses clink,
"Twill be long, ere we grip your hand,"
So we dragged him ashore for a final drink
And the whole wide world looked grand
Chorus:For they marry and go,
And the world rolls back,
They marry, and vanish and die,
But their spirits shall live on the outside track
As long as the years go by.The port lights glowed in the morning mist
As it rolled on the waters green,
And over the railing we grasped his fist
As the dark tide came between.
We cheered the captain, we cheered the crew
And our mate, times out of mind.
We cheered the land he was going to
And the land he had left behind.
ChorusWe roared "Lang Syne" in a last farewell
But my heart felt out of joint.
I well remember the hush that fell.
As the steamer passed the point.
We drifted home through the public bars,
We were ten times less by one
Who sailed out under the morning stars
And under the rising sun.
ChorusThen one by one, and two by two
They've sailed from the wharf since then.
I've said goodbye to the last I knew,
The last of the careless men.
And I can't but think that the times we had
Were the best times after all,
As I turn aside with my lonely glass
And drink to the barroom wall.
ChorusFinal Chorus:
So I'll try my luck
For a check Outback
And a last farewell to the bush
For my heart's away on the Outside Track
At the back of the steerage push.