Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE KINE OF MY FATHER, by DORA SIGERSON SHORTER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE KINE OF MY FATHER, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: The kine of my father, they are straying from my keeping
Last Line: Bitter is your trouble -- and I am far from you.
Alternate Author Name(s): Sigerson, Dora; Shorter, Mrs. Clement
Subject(s): Absence; Separation; Isolation


THE kine of my father, they are straying from my keeping;
The young goat's at mischief, but little can I do:
For all through the night did I hear the banshee keening;
O youth of my loving, and is it well with you?

All through the night sat my mother with my sorrow;
'Whisht, it is the storm, O one childeen of my heart!'
My hair with the wind, and my two hands clasped in anguish;
Black head of my darling! too long are we apart.

Were your grave at my feet, I would think it half a blessing;
I could herd then the cattle, and drive the goats away;
Many a Paternoster I would say for your safe keeping;
I could sleep above your heart until the dawn of day.

I see you on the prairie, hot with thirst and faint with hunger;
The head that I love lying low upon the sand.
The vultures shriek impatient, and the coyote dogs are howling,
Till the blood is pulsing cold within your clenching hand.

I see you on the waters, so white, so still, forsaken,
Your dear eyes unclosing beneath a foreign rain:
A plaything of the winds, you turn and drift unceasing;
No grave for your resting; oh mine the bitter pain!

All through the night did I hear the banshee keening:
Somewhere you are dying, and nothing can I do;
My hair with the wind, and my two hands clasped in anguish;
Bitter is your trouble -- and I am far from you.





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