| Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Little Book of Modern Verse. 1917. |
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| 65. Irish Peasant Song |
| | | By Louise Imogen Guiney |
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| I TRY to knead and spin, but my life is low the while, | |
| Oh, I long to be alone, and walk abroad a mile; | |
| Yet if I walk alone, and think of naught at all, | |
| Why from me that’s young should the wild tears fall? | |
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| The shower-sodden earth, the earth-colored streams, | 5 |
| They breathe on me awake, and moan to me in dreams, | |
| And yonder ivy fondling the broke castle-wall, | |
| It pulls upon my heart till the wild tears fall. | |
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| The cabin-door looks down a furze-lighted hill, | |
| And far as Leighlin Cross the fields are green and still; | 10 |
| But once I hear the blackbird in Leighlin hedges call, | |
| The foolishness is on me, and the wild tears fall! | |
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