O, to have a little house!
To own the hearth and stool and all!
The heaped up sods against the fire,
The pile of turf against the wall!
To have a clock with weights and chains
And pendulum swinging up and down!
A dresser filled with shining delph,
Speckled and white and blue and brown!
I could be busy all the day
Clearing and sweeping hearth and floor,
And fixing on their shelf again
My white and blue and speckled store!
I could be quiet there at night
Beside the fire and by myself,
Sure of a bed and loth to leave
The ticking clock and the shining delph!
Och! but I'm weary of mist and dark,
And roads where there's never a house nor bush,
And tired I am of bog and road,
And the crying wind and the lonesome hush!
And I am praying to God on high,
And I am praying Him night and day,
For a little house - a house of my own
Out of the wind's and the rain's way.
Notes
'Delph' is a type of glazed earthenware, made at Delf (or Delft) a town in Holland.
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Heart rendering
Wonderfully touching, I feel I want to buy her a little house so she is completely off the road and safe. Poor woman, I still feel her sadness and I hope she's off the road now forever, at peace on her little stool by the fire. -
top class
A very sad poem but not without hope as the old woman of the roads still has her dreams, Padraic Colum penned such beautiful verse, she moved through the fair, A cradle song and this poem An old woman of the roads as well as many others. -
Such sadness expressed on these few lines. Spoken of the poor of Ireland, dreaming of the basic requirments of life - believing them to be luxuries. How fortunate we are today.
~Von~
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