| Poems by Women |
Irish Love Song
Well, if the thing is over, better it is for me,
The
lad was ever a rover, loving and laughing free,
Far too clever a lover not to
be having still
A lass in the town and a lass by the road and a lass by the
farther hill --
Love on the field and love on the path and love in the woody
glen --
(Lad, will I never see you, never your face again?)
Ay, if the thing is ending, now I'll be getting rest,
Saying my prayers
and bending down to be stilled and blest,
Never the days are sending hope
till my heart is sore
For a laugh on the path and a voice by the gate and a
step
on the shieling floor --
Grief on my ways and grief on my work
and grief till the evening's dim --
(Lord, will I never hear it, never a
sound of him?)
Sure if it's done forever, better for me that's wise,
Never the hurt, and
never tears in my aching eyes,
No more the trouble ever to hide from my
asking folk
Beat of my heart at click o' the latch, and throb if his name is
spoke;
Never the need to hide the sighs and the flushing thoughts and the
fret,
And after awhile my heart will hush and my hungering hands forget . .
.
Peace on my ways, and peace in my step, and maybe my heart grown light
--
(~Mary, helper of heartbreak, send him to me to-night!~)
From: Rittenhouse, Jessie B.
The Second Book of Modern Verse (1919).
This poet:
[Author index]
This collection assembled by Jone Johnson Lewis.
Collection © 1999-2002 Jone Johnson Lewis.
Citing poems from these pages:
| Author. "Poem Title." Women's History: Poems by Women. Jone Johnson Lewis, editor. URL: (date of logon) |

