Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WHISTLIN' THIEF by SAMUEL LOVER

First Line: WHEN PAT CAME OVER THE HILL
Last Line: I HAVEN'T LOST MY EARS!'
WHEN Pat came over the hill,
His colleen fair to see,
His whistle low, but shrill,
The signal was to be.
(@3Pat whistles@1.)

'Mary,' the mother said,
'Someone is whistling sure;'
Says Mary, ''Tis only the wind
Is whistling through the door.'
@3(Pat whistles a bit of a popular air.)@1

'I've lived a long time, Mary,
In this wide world, my dear,
But a door to whistle like that
I never yet did hear.'

'But, mother, you know the fiddle
Hangs close beside the chink,
And the wind upon the strings
Is playing the tune I think.'
(@3The pig grunts.@1)

'Mary, I hear the pig,
Unaisy in his mind.'
'But, mother, you know, they say
The pigs can see the wind.'

'That's true enough in the day,
But I think you may remark
That pigs no more nor we,
Can see anything in the dark.'
(@3The dog barks.@1)

'The dog is barking now,
The fiddle can't play the tune.'
'But, mother, the dogs will bark
Whenever they see the moon.'

'But how could he see the moon,
When, you know, the dog is blind?
Blind dogs won't bark at the moon,
Nor fiddles be played by the wind.

'I'm not such a fool as you think,
I know very well it is Pat:
Shut your mouth, you whistlin' thief,
And go along home out o' that!

'And you be off to your bed,
Don't play upon me your jeers;
For though I have lost my eyes,
I haven't lost my ears!'



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