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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TWO IRISH PEASANT SONGS: 1 by LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: I KNEAD AND I SPIN, BUT MY LIFE IS LOW THE WHILE
Last Line: THE FOOLISHNESS IS ON ME, AND THE WILD TEARS FALL!
I KNEAD and I spin, but my life is low the while,
Oh, I long to be alone, and walk abroad a mile,
Yet if I walk alone, and think of naught at all,
Why from me that's young should the wild tears fall?

The shower-stricken earth, the earth-colored streams,
They breathe on me awake, and moan to me in dreams,
And yonder ivy fondling the broke castle-wall,
It pulls upon my heart till the wild tears fall.

The cabin-door looks down a furze-lighted hill,
And far as Leighlin Cross the fields are green and still;
But once I hear the blackbird in Leighlin hedges call,
The foolishness is on me, and the wild tears fall!




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