Clara Waters-Slim Dusty

[ti:Clara Waters] [ar:Slim Dusty] [al:Coming Home] [by:] [offset:0] [00:00.00]Clara Waters - Slim Dusty [00:02.57]I was drivin' out through Mitchell [00:05.66]Heard a lonesome railroad whistle [00:08.29]So I stopped beside the highway for a spell [00:11.84] [00:13.97]And in this pleasant place [00:15.88] [00:16.43]Was a notice well displayed [00:18.55] [00:19.13]With a story I am now about to tell [00:22.58] [00:25.03]The notice was a roll of those who'd paid the toll [00:29.26] [00:29.88]While working on the railroad to the west [00:33.13] [00:35.53]Wives and workers perished [00:37.35] [00:37.95]With the children that they cherished [00:39.83] [00:40.44]And in lonely graves were gently laid to rest [00:43.97] [00:45.37]Then I found my vision misted [00:47.87] [00:48.38]As among the many listed [00:51.21]The name of Clara Waters caught my eye [00:54.66] [00:56.59]I imagined my own daughter [00:59.18]In the place of Clara Waters [01:01.92]While the busy highway traffic hurtled by [01:05.54] [01:12.71]How short her life had been [01:15.39]She was only seventeen [01:18.04]Yet her story may be very simply told [01:21.81] [01:23.94]A doctor might have saved her [01:26.29]From the fever after labour [01:28.29] [01:29.00]Her baby died when he was four days old [01:32.47] [01:34.51]Then the scene before me shifted [01:36.50] [01:37.16]As back in time I drifted [01:39.24] [01:39.84]As back in time a hundred years I went [01:43.06] [01:45.00]And through my muddled dreaming [01:47.09] [01:47.81]A morning sun came beaming [01:49.83] [01:50.46]On a battered billy steaming by a tent [01:53.83] [01:56.08]For here was pretty Clara [01:58.00] [01:58.57]With her husband there to share a [02:00.76] [02:01.35]Simple meal before their daily task [02:04.55] [02:06.58]I am anxious now to meet her [02:09.20]So I hurry on to greet her [02:11.94]With the questions that I feel I have to ask [02:15.18] [02:19.92]And when the day is breaking [02:22.02] [02:22.61]Is there happiness in waking [02:24.63] [02:25.31]Have you had your share of laughter joy and cheer [02:28.83] [02:30.43]You were very young to marry [02:32.69] [02:33.33]And the baby that you carry [02:35.92]Does it make you wish your mother could be near [02:39.45] [02:41.52]In the coolness of the morning [02:44.18]In the piccaninnie dawning [02:46.82]Does your husband tell you often of his love [02:50.25] [02:52.25]While the magpies merry singing [02:54.34] [02:54.85]In the higher branches ringing [02:57.58]Is bringing morning greetings from above [03:01.11] [03:03.12]Does the gentle evening breeze [03:05.25] [03:05.77]Wave the smoke up through the trees [03:07.75] [03:08.34]Do you see the shafts of sunlight drifting down [03:11.85] [03:13.56]Or has drudgery and duty [03:16.23]Made you blind to every beauty [03:18.93]While the camp is turning dusty bare and brown [03:22.60] [03:27.20]With a bed of planks and sacking [03:28.95] [03:29.67]And with every comfort lacking [03:31.56] [03:32.50]Growing heavy as your time is drawing near [03:35.95] [03:37.91]In your shabby tent so dreary [03:39.81] [03:40.81]Are you very often weary [03:42.27] [03:43.18]And do you sometimes shed a silent lonely tear [03:46.71] [03:51.37]And when her son was born [03:53.39] [03:53.91]On a hot December morn [03:56.04] [03:56.56]And the deadly fever started on it's quest [04:00.11] [04:01.69]Was there time for her to hold him [04:04.11] [04:04.66]And in her love enfold him [04:07.30]Was there time to give him comfort at her breast [04:10.80] [04:12.78]Of course there's no replying [04:15.28]To my questions and my prying [04:17.50] [04:18.04]And suddenly I know it's time to go [04:21.45] [04:23.40]But I reckon I'll remember [04:25.40] [04:26.09]What happened that December [04:28.14] [04:28.73]In the summertime a hundred years ago [04:32.20] [04:36.88]And then a road train passes [04:39.53]There's a ripple through the grasses [04:41.63] [04:42.33]As if to wave a fleeting sad goodbye [04:45.66] [04:47.52]To Clara and her son [04:49.45] [04:49.97]Their lives so briefly run [04:52.14] [04:52.70]And the busy highway traffic [04:55.83]Rushes by