Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FIXIN' THE DAY, by ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: Arrah, answer me now, sweet kitty mulreddin | ||||||||
PATRICK Arrah, answer me now, sweet Kitty Mulreddin , Why won't you be fixin' the day of our weddin'? KITTY Now, Patrick O'Brien, what a hurry you're in! Can't you wait till the summer comes round to begin? PATRICK O, no, Kitty machree, in all sinse and all raison, The winter's the properest marryin' saison; For to comfort oneself from the frost and the rain, There's nothin' like weddin' in winter, 'tis plain. KITTY If it's only protection you want from the cowld, There's a parish that's called the Equator, I'm tould, That for single young men is kept hot through the year. Where's the use of your marryin'? off wid you there! PATRICK But there's also a spot not so pleasantly warmed, Set aside for ould maids, if I'm rightly informed, Where some mornin', if still she can't make up her mind, A misfortune colleen, called Kathleen, you'll find. KITTY Is it threatenin' you are that I'll die an ould maid, Who refused, for your sake, Mr. Laurence M'Quaide? Faix! I think I'll forgive him; for this I'll be bound, He'd wait like a lamb till the summer came round. PATRICK Now it's thinkin' I am that this same Mr. Larry Is what makes you so slow in agreein' to marry. KITTY And your wish to be settled wid me in such haste Doesn't prove that you're jealous of him in the laste? PATRICK Well, we'll not say that Kitty'll die an ould maid. KITTY And we'll bother no more about Larry M'Quaide. PATRICK But, Kitty machree, sure those weddin's in spring, When the Long Fast is out, are as common a thing As the turfs in a rick, or the stones on a wall- Faith! you might just as well not be married at all. But a weddin', consider, at this side of Lent, Would be thought such a far more surprisin' event- So delightful to all at this dull time of year. Now say "Yes!" for the sake of the neighbours, my dear! KITTY No, Patrick, we'll wed when the woods and the grass Wave a welcome of purtiest green, as we pass Through the sweet cowslip meadow, and up by the mill To the chapel itself on the side of the hill- Where the thorn, that's now sighin' a widow's lamint, In a bridesmaid's costume 'll be smilin' contint, And the thrush and the blackbird pipe, "Haste to the weddin', Of Patrick O'Brien and Kitty Mulreddin." PATRICK Will you really promise that, Kitty, you rogue? KITTY Whisper, Patrick, the contract I'll seal wid-a pogue. [Kissing him | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE IRISH SPINNING-WHEEL by ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES AN IRISH LULLABY by ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES FORTUNE MY FOE by ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES HERRING IS KING by ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES OULD DOCTOR MACK by ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES THE LITTLE RED LARK by ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES THE WHITE BLOSSOM'S OFF THE BOG by ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES THE WRECK OF THE AIDEEN by ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES BROTHERS IN ARMS by ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES FAN FITZGERL by ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES |
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