Classic Poem

D OMENIC D ARRAGH walked the land
Wi' a mountainy child at either hand;
They were lean an' long an' big in the eyes
An' terrible hungry for their size.
" Now where did ye pick up them? " said I,
" An' you wi' six o' ye're own forbye. "
" 'Twas up at the wee red lough, " said he,
" That I found the two — or they found me;
They rose an' followed me down the track
An' sure I was feart to drive them back;
They give no tongue an' they're quare to see,
An' I don't know what they are , " said he.
" Would they eat, " said I, " if I'd give them bread? "
An' Domenic laughed — " Is it eat? " he said,
" They would eat the two of us, heels an' head. "
" It might be luck they would bring, " said I.
" Och luck! " said he, " there's a week gone by
Since I've been roamin' by hill an' glen
To see could I find the mountainy men
Would take them back to their own again;
But never a one has crossed my way,
And the childer follow me night an' day,
An' beyond the crack o' a laugh, " said he,
" They haven't opened their lips to me.
My corn is ripe an' my turf's to store,
Yet I darena face to my own house door,
For who's to say but there'd ill befall
Wi' the like o' them in the house at all.
I'll be to travel the hills, " said he,
" Till I lose the two — or they lose me —
An' och, dear knows when that will be. "
I filled his pipe an' I gave him bread,
An' the good word deep in my heart I said
For the help o' one that walked in dread.
An' down the road they went, the three;
While the crack o' a laugh came back to me.