《Clara Waters》歌词

[00:00:00] Clara Waters - Slim Dusty

[00:00:02] I was drivin' out through Mitchell

[00:00:05] Heard a lonesome railroad whistle

[00:00:08] So I stopped beside the highway for a spell

[00:00:13] And in this pleasant place

[00:00:16] Was a notice well displayed

[00:00:19] With a story I am now about to tell

[00:00:25] The notice was a roll of those who'd paid the toll

[00:00:29] While working on the railroad to the west

[00:00:35] Wives and workers perished

[00:00:37] With the children that they cherished

[00:00:40] And in lonely graves were gently laid to rest

[00:00:45] Then I found my vision misted

[00:00:48] As among the many listed

[00:00:51] The name of Clara Waters caught my eye

[00:00:56] I imagined my own daughter

[00:00:59] In the place of Clara Waters

[00:01:01] While the busy highway traffic hurtled by

[00:01:12] How short her life had been

[00:01:15] She was only seventeen

[00:01:18] Yet her story may be very simply told

[00:01:23] A doctor might have saved her

[00:01:26] From the fever after labour

[00:01:29] Her baby died when he was four days old

[00:01:34] Then the scene before me shifted

[00:01:37] As back in time I drifted

[00:01:39] As back in time a hundred years I went

[00:01:45] And through my muddled dreaming

[00:01:47] A morning sun came beaming

[00:01:50] On a battered billy steaming by a tent

[00:01:56] For here was pretty Clara

[00:01:58] With her husband there to share a

[00:02:01] Simple meal before their daily task

[00:02:06] I am anxious now to meet her

[00:02:09] So I hurry on to greet her

[00:02:11] With the questions that I feel I have to ask

[00:02:19] And when the day is breaking

[00:02:22] Is there happiness in waking

[00:02:25] Have you had your share of laughter joy and cheer

[00:02:30] You were very young to marry

[00:02:33] And the baby that you carry

[00:02:35] Does it make you wish your mother could be near

[00:02:41] In the coolness of the morning

[00:02:44] In the piccaninnie dawning

[00:02:46] Does your husband tell you often of his love

[00:02:52] While the magpies merry singing

[00:02:54] In the higher branches ringing

[00:02:57] Is bringing morning greetings from above

[00:03:03] Does the gentle evening breeze

[00:03:05] Wave the smoke up through the trees

[00:03:08] Do you see the shafts of sunlight drifting down

[00:03:13] Or has drudgery and duty

[00:03:16] Made you blind to every beauty

[00:03:18] While the camp is turning dusty bare and brown

[00:03:27] With a bed of planks and sacking

[00:03:29] And with every comfort lacking

[00:03:32] Growing heavy as your time is drawing near

[00:03:37] In your shabby tent so dreary

[00:03:40] Are you very often weary

[00:03:43] And do you sometimes shed a silent lonely tear

[00:03:51] And when her son was born

[00:03:53] On a hot December morn

[00:03:56] And the deadly fever started on it's quest

[00:04:01] Was there time for her to hold him

[00:04:04] And in her love enfold him

[00:04:07] Was there time to give him comfort at her breast

[00:04:12] Of course there's no replying

[00:04:15] To my questions and my prying

[00:04:18] And suddenly I know it's time to go

[00:04:23] But I reckon I'll remember

[00:04:26] What happened that December

[00:04:28] In the summertime a hundred years ago

[00:04:36] And then a road train passes

[00:04:39] There's a ripple through the grasses

[00:04:42] As if to wave a fleeting sad goodbye

[00:04:47] To Clara and her son

[00:04:49] Their lives so briefly run

[00:04:52] And the busy highway traffic

[00:04:55] Rushes by