The Wayfarers by Louisa Lawson

Give me a part of your burden, friend;
   Your load is more than your share;
I know by the way your shoulders bend
   'Tis more than you well can bear.

A toilsome road is the world's highway,
   With little to lift or loan,
Where shadows oft with the sunbeams play
   To music of mirth and moan.

So give me some of your load to keep;
   There is much that you can spare;
The way is long and the hills are steep;
   And pitfalls are everywhere.

Some deep and dark that your eye might miss
   That mine would be sure to see,
And snakes that spring with no warning hiss
   That you could reveal to me.

So give me some of your burden, pray;
   I'll carry it with my own;
We'll help to lighten each other's way;
   It's dreary walking alone.

First published in The Sydney Mail, 12 December 1906;
and later in
The Worker, 22 December 1910; and
Louisa Lawson: Collected Poems with Selected Critical Commentaries edited by L. M. Rutherford, M. E. Roughley and Nigel Spence, 1996.

Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library

See also.