Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OLD SONGS, by WALT MASON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OLD SONGS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Last night I heard an ancient dame hum
Last Line: Back to earn the beefsteak and the beans.
Subject(s): Memory


LAST night I heard an ancient dame hum divers songs of bygone years, and tender

recollections came, which filled my old green eyes with tears. "Oh, Birdie, I am

tired now, I do not care to hear you sing"; thus warbled on the withered frau,
while darning socks, like everything. Beneath the bright Canadian skies I used
to sing that simple lay; folks heard my boyish treble rise, and wished I'd quit,

or go away. Where are the men who cried "Shut up!" and promptly sicked their
dogs on me, when I, before their wickiup, turned loose that song in ecstasy? The

beldame by my fireside waits, and sings old songs to you unknown, as "Wait for
me at heaven's gates, sweet Belle Mahone, sweet Belle Mahone!" I used to sing
the same sweet song, beneath the warm Canadian sun, and neighbors rang the
chestnut gong, and put more buckshot in the gun. Old songs! Sweet songs! They
blaze the track to bygone days and vanished scenes, before I had to break my
back to earn the beefsteak and the beans.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net