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Henry Lawson - The Shame of Going Back
Work rating: Medium

When you`ve come to make a fortune and you haven`t made your salt,
And the reason of your failure isn`t anybody`s fault -
When you haven`t got a billet, and the times are very slack,
There is nothing that can spur you like the shame of going back;
Crawling home with empty pockets,
Going back hard-up;
Oh! it`s then you learn the meaning of humiliation`s cup.

When the place and you are strangers and you struggle all alone,
And you have a mighty longing for the town where you are known;
When your clothes are very shabby and the future`s very black,
There is nothing that can hurt you like the shame of going back.

When we`ve fought the battle bravely and are beaten to the wall,
`Tis the sneers of men, not conscience, that make cowards of us all;
And the while you are returning, oh! your brain is on the rack,
And your heart is in the shadow of the shame of going back.

When a beaten man`s discovered with a bullet in his brain,
They POST-MORTEM him, and try him, and they say he was insane;
But it very often happens that he`d lately got the sack,
And his onward move was owing to the shame of going back.

Ah! my friend, you call it nonsense, and your upper lip is curled,
I can see that you have never worked your passage through the world;
But when fortune rounds upon you and the rain is on the track,
You will learn the bitter meaning of the shame of going back;
Going home with empty pockets,
Going home hard-up;
Oh, you`ll taste the bitter poison in humiliation`s cup.
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