Poem by Katharine Tynan

Haymaking

Aye, sure, it does always be rainin'
An' the hay lyin' out in the wet,
But what's the good o' complainin'?
It never made things better yet!
There'll be musty hay in the manger,
The cow's goin' dry, be mischance,
And the boy that went for a Ranger
Is lost on us -- somewhere in France!

The father of him, it's heart-breakin' --
Wid a watery glint o' the sun,
It's out wid him, turnin' an' shakin' --
Then all the labour's undone.
There won't be much savin' in Connaught,
The winter'll be hungry and black,
But I wouldn't waste sorrow upon it
If only the boy could come back!

There's a terrible cloud over Nephin,
An' the rain rushin' up from the say,
Och, what if the hay is past savin'?
I wouldn't be mindin' the hay.
'Tis the loss of the boy's bent me double,
An' the poor ould man is as bad;
I'm starvin' for him, an' the trouble,
The trouble's heavy and sad.

God's good and He'll send better weather,
The sun'll be shinin' again,
If Pat and me was together
I wouldn't be mindin' the rain.
No matter what weather was in it
I wouldn't care if he'd come.
But the heart o' me's cryin' this minit,
For the boy that'll never come home! 

1. Turn o' the Year
2. A Song of Going
3. The End of the Day
4. Nymphs
5. Old Song Re-Sung

Edward Thomas Haymaking ("Aftear night’s thunder far away had rolled")

Print

1201 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version