A Hungry Day Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEFE GHIHJGKG LMNMIOPO QRSRTUIU VWXWKIYI ZKA2KBJB2J PC2B2C2SICI XD2E2 F2KG2K H2D2I2D2J2BK2B IBPBPL2IL2 BIB2I L2BM2B IIN2I L2PL2P PO2P2O2I mind him well he was a quare ould chap | A |
Come like meself from swate ould Erin's sod | B |
He hired me wanst to help his harvest in | C |
The crops was fine that summer prais'd be God | B |
He found us Rosie Mickie an' meself | D |
Just landed in the emigration shed | E |
Meself was tyin' on there bits of clothes | F |
Their mother rest her tender sowl was dead | E |
- | |
It's not meself can say of what she died | G |
But t'was the year the praties felt the rain | H |
And rotted in the soil an' just to dhraw | I |
The breath of life was one long hungry pain | H |
If we were haythens in a furrin' land | J |
Not in a country grand in Christian pride | G |
Faith then a man might have the face to say | K |
'Twas of stharvation my poor Shylie died | G |
- | |
But whin the parish docthor come at last | L |
Whin death was like a sun burst in her eyes | M |
They looked straight into heaven an her ears | N |
Wor deaf to the poor childer's hungry cries | M |
He touched the bones stretched on the mouldy sthraw | I |
She's gone he says and drew a solemn frown | O |
I fear my man she's dead Of what says I | P |
He coughed and says She's let her system down | O |
- | |
An' that's God's truth says I an' felt about | Q |
To touch her dawney hand for all looked dark | R |
An' in my hunger bleached shmall beatin' heart | S |
I felt the kindlin' of a burning spark | R |
O by me sowl that is the holy truth | T |
There's Rosie's cheek has kept a dimple still | U |
An' Mickie's eyes are bright the craythur there | I |
Died that the weeny ones might eat there fill | U |
- | |
An' whin they spread the daisies thick and white | V |
Above her head that wanst lay on my breast | W |
I had no tears but took the childhers' hands | X |
An' says We'll lave the mother to her rest | W |
An' och the sod was green that summers day | K |
An' rainbows crossed the low hills blue an' fair | I |
But black an' foul the blighted furrows stretched | Y |
An' sent their cruel poison through the air | I |
- | |
An' all was quiet on the sunny sides | Z |
Of hedge an' ditch the stharvin' craythurs lay | K |
An' thim as lack'd the rint from empty walls | A2 |
Of little cabins wapin' turned away | K |
God's curse lay heavy on the poor ould sod | B |
An' whin upon her increase His right hand | J |
Fell with'ringly there samed no bit of blue | B2 |
For Hope to shine through on the sthricken land | J |
- | |
No facthory chimblys shmoked agin the sky | P |
No mines yawn'd on the hills so full an' rich | C2 |
A man whose praties failed had nought to do | B2 |
But fold his hands an' die down in a ditch | C2 |
A flame rose up widin me feeble heart | S |
Whin passin' through me cabin's hingeless dure | I |
I saw the mark of Shylie's coffin in | C |
The grey dust on the empty earthen flure | I |
- | |
I lifted Rosie's face betwixt me hands | X |
Says I 'Me girleen you an' Mick an' me | D2 |
Must lave the green ould sod an' look for food | E2 |
In thim strange countries far beyant the sea ' | - |
An' so it chanced when landed on the streets | F2 |
Ould Dolan rowlin' a quare ould shay | K |
Came there to hire a roan to save his whate | G2 |
An' hired meself and Mickie by the day | K |
- | |
An' bring the girleen Pat he says an' looked | H2 |
At Rosie lanin' up agin me knee | D2 |
The wife will be right plaised to see the child | I2 |
The weeney shamrock from beyant the sea | D2 |
We've got a tidy place the saints be praised | J2 |
As nice a farm as ever brogan trod | B |
A hundred acres us as never owned | K2 |
Land big enough to make a lark a sod | B |
- | |
Bedad sez I I heerd them over there | I |
Tell how the goold was lyin' in the sthreet | B |
An' guineas in the very mud that sthuck | P |
To the ould brogans on a poor man's feet | B |
Begorra Pat says Dolan may ould Nick | P |
Fly off wid thim rapscallions schaming rogues | L2 |
An' sind thim thrampin' purgatory's flure | I |
Wid red hot guineas in their polished brogues | L2 |
- | |
Och thin says I meself agrees to that | B |
Ould Dolan smiled wid eyes so bright an' grey | I |
Says he Kape up yer heart I never knew | B2 |
Since I come out a single hungry day | I |
- | |
But thin I left the crowded city sthreets | L2 |
There men galore to toil in thim an' die | B |
Meself wint wid me axe to cut a home | M2 |
In the green woods beneath the clear swate sky | B |
- | |
I did that same an' God be prais'd this day | I |
Plenty sits smilin' by me own dear dure | I |
An' in them years I never wanst have seen | N2 |
A famished child creep tremblin' on me flure | I |
- | |
I listened to ould Dolan's honest words | L2 |
That's twenty years ago this very spring | P |
An' Mick is married an' me Rosie wears | L2 |
A swateheart's little shinin' goulden ring | P |
- | |
'Twould make yer heart lape just to take a look | P |
At the green fields upon me own big farm | O2 |
An' God be prais'd all men may have the same | P2 |
That owns an axe an' has a strong right arm | O2 |
Isabella Valancy Crawford
(1)
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