<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">Haymaking</h1><h1 align="center" class="head"><em>In Connaught, 1915</em></h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">Aye</span>, sure, it does always be rainin'</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">An' the hay lyin' out in the wet,</p><p class="line">But what's the good o' complainin'?</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">It never made things better yet!</p><p class="line">There'll be musty hay in the manger,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The cow's goin' dry, be mischance,</p><p class="line">And the boy that went for a Ranger</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Is lost on us -- somewhere in France!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The father of him, it's heart-breakin' --</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Wid a watery glint o' the sun,</p><p class="line">It's out wid him, turnin' an' shakin' --</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Then all the labour's undone.</p><p class="line">There won't be much savin' in Connaught,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The winter'll be hungry and black,</p><p class="line">But I wouldn't waste sorrow upon it</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">If only the boy could come back!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">There's a terrible cloud over Nephin,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">An' the rain rushin' up from the say,</p><p class="line">Och, what if the hay is past savin'?</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">I wouldn't be mindin' the hay.</p><p class="line">'Tis the loss of the boy's bent me double,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">An' the poor ould man is as bad;</p><p class="line">I'm starvin' for him, an' the trouble,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The trouble's heavy and sad.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">God's good and He'll send better weather,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The sun'll be shinin' again,</p><p class="line">If Pat and me was together</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">I wouldn't be mindin' the rain.</p><p class="line">No matter what weather was in it</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">I wouldn't care if he'd come.</p><p class="line">But the heart o' me's cryin' this minit,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">For the boy that'll never come home!</p></div></body></html> · Great War