 | Heliconundrums |  |
9
MERRY HANNAH
AT HER KITCHEN RANGE
Never say die till you're dead!—
Good Old Proverb.
Good Old Proverb.
With blackest soot the chimney pots
Were thickly crusted, one and all:
The crock was crusted too, and lots
Of soot rubb'd from it blear'd the wall:
The unwash'd sherds look'd sad and strange,
Odd plates and cups that did not match
(He in his cups had smash'd the batch)
Scatter'd before the kitchen range.
She only said — He just was beery:
Where is he now? she said:
I wish he would not get so beery;
It 's time to be a-bed.
Were thickly crusted, one and all:
The crock was crusted too, and lots
Of soot rubb'd from it blear'd the wall:
The unwash'd sherds look'd sad and strange,
Odd plates and cups that did not match
(He in his cups had smash'd the batch)
Scatter'd before the kitchen range.
She only said — He just was beery:
Where is he now? she said:
I wish he would not get so beery;
It 's time to be a-bed.
And yet she had no tears that even;
And all the morning had not cried;
She was so used to see her Stephen
Beery both morn and eventide.
So, after flitting of the bats,
Before thick dark did trance the sky,
She put the half-darn'd stocking by,
And skurried off the neighbours' cats.
She only said — Again he 's beery;
He cometh not, she said:
She said — I guess he 's beery, beery,
It 's time to be abed.
And all the morning had not cried;
She was so used to see her Stephen
Beery both morn and eventide.
10
Before thick dark did trance the sky,
She put the half-darn'd stocking by,
And skurried off the neighbours' cats.
She only said — Again he 's beery;
He cometh not, she said:
She said — I guess he 's beery, beery,
It 's time to be abed.
Upon the middle of the night
Waking she heard a rooster crow;
And half an hour before the light
From her near shed she heard the cow
Call to her. Without hope of change
Awake she lay, alone, forlorn;
So got up earlier than the Morn,
And laid a fire in her kitchen range.
She only said — It 's very queer he
Has not come; she said—
He must have been so very beery
To sleep out of his bed.
Waking she heard a rooster crow;
And half an hour before the light
From her near shed she heard the cow
Call to her. Without hope of change
Awake she lay, alone, forlorn;
So got up earlier than the Morn,
And laid a fire in her kitchen range.
She only said — It 's very queer he
Has not come; she said—
He must have been so very beery
To sleep out of his bed.
About a stone-cast from the wall
A ditch through willow-pollards crept,
Where poor Lord Stephen had a fall,
And lay there since, and snoring slept.
Hard by his terrier sate alway,
With tender whine or rougher bark:
For leagues no other dog did mark
A sleepier drunkard where he lay.
She only said — I 'd best be cheery;
And light the fire, she said:
She said —It 's best be always cheery,
And not die till you're dead.
A ditch through willow-pollards crept,
Where poor Lord Stephen had a fall,
And lay there since, and snoring slept.
Hard by his terrier sate alway,
With tender whine or rougher bark:
For leagues no other dog did mark
A sleepier drunkard where he lay.
11
And light the fire, she said:
She said —It 's best be always cheery,
And not die till you're dead.
The sun was getting up, though slow;
But the quick winds were up and away:
The casement curtain to and fro
Swung, and she saw the shadow sway,
And thought it was for whom she yearn'd;
And look'd, and found it was a sell;
And then she went out to the well
And fill'd her kettle and return'd.
And only said — It 's very queer he
Stay'd out all night; she said,
But in her thought half put the query,
Suppose that he were dead?
But the quick winds were up and away:
The casement curtain to and fro
Swung, and she saw the shadow sway,
And thought it was for whom she yearn'd;
And look'd, and found it was a sell;
And then she went out to the well
And fill'd her kettle and return'd.
And only said — It 's very queer he
Stay'd out all night; she said,
But in her thought half put the query,
Suppose that he were dead?
All day within the dreamy house
The doors upon their hinges creak'd;
A blue fly rapp'd o' the pane, a mouse
Jump'd out, and then she almost shriek'd;
Her cat went with her all about;
They saw him sneaking through the door,
They heard his big boots on the floor,
They heard him cursing from without,—
Not he. And yet she kept her cheery:
He cometh not, she said:
She said — He 's beery, very beery:
Quite a long drunk, she said.
The doors upon their hinges creak'd;
A blue fly rapp'd o' the pane, a mouse
Jump'd out, and then she almost shriek'd;
Her cat went with her all about;
They saw him sneaking through the door,
They heard his big boots on the floor,
They heard him cursing from without,—
Not he. And yet she kept her cheery:
He cometh not, she said:
She said — He 's beery, very beery:
Quite a long drunk, she said.
12
She heard the swallows on the roof,
Heard the clock ticking, and the sound
A horse made with his hinder hoof
Against the fore; she did confound
All drunkards once — for half an hour:
But when the sun at noon of day
Was high, and when the sunbeams lay
Quite level, even when night 'gan lower,
She held her cheer, would not be dreary,
He 'll come some time, she said:
It 's best all ways to keep one cheery,
And not die till one 's dead.
Heard the clock ticking, and the sound
A horse made with his hinder hoof
Against the fore; she did confound
All drunkards once — for half an hour:
But when the sun at noon of day
Was high, and when the sunbeams lay
Quite level, even when night 'gan lower,
She held her cheer, would not be dreary,
He 'll come some time, she said:
It 's best all ways to keep one cheery,
And not die till one 's dead.
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