Old Mate! In the gusty old weather,
When our hopes and our troubles were new;
In the years spent in wearing out leather,
I found you unselfish and true –
I have gathered these verses together
For the sake of our friendship and you

You may think for a while and with reason
Though still with a kindly regret
That I've left it for late in the season
To prove I remember you yet,
But you'll never judge me by their treason
Who prop thy friends and forget.

Instrumental

I can still feel the spirit that bore us,
And often the old stars will shine
I remember the last spree in chorus
For the sake of that other Lang Syne,
When the tracks lay divided before us,
Your path through the future and mine;

Through the frost wind that cuts like whip lashes
Through the ever blind haze of the drought,
Find more similar lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.com/eN4uAnd in fancier times by the flashes,
Of light in the darkness of death,
I have followed the tent poles and ashes,
Of camps that we moved further out,

Instrumental

You will find in these pages a trace of,
That side of our past that was bright,
And recognize something the face of,
A friend who has dropped out of sight.
Oh I send them along in the place of,
The letters I promised to write, (yeah)

Old Mate! In the gusty old weather,
When our hopes and our troubles were new;
In the years spent in wearing out leather,
I found you unselfish and true –
I have gathered these verses together
For the sake of our friendship and you. Fade

From his album: "Henry Lawson & Banjo Patterson" Disc 2
Songwriters/Composers: Henry Lawson;
Transcribed: Marten Busstra 2009