Ghost-bereft :: :: University of Virginia Library

So the time shone away till the laves, that were scarce but green mist on the brown
Of the wood, settled thick as a cloud, and the meadows stood ripe to come down.
And one morn they were shakin' Long-Leg out of laps, heavy-wet in the rain,
That was teemin' all night, as you'd tell by the strame, for it boomed like a train
Wid the great weight of water. But home I was run to be fetchin' a sup
Of fresh buttermilk-whey for the lads, and was fillin' me jug wid a cup
From the pan sittin' out on the front kitchen window-stool; that's how I heard
People spakin' widin; and a pane was black out—I could catch every word.

And I seen by a glimpse 'twas me father that spoke in the big elbow-chair,
And forenent him Matt Flynn of Cahirclone, who was great wid Macleans sittin' there;
And behind Matt stood Hughey himself; and I knew well enough in me mind
They were match-makin'. 'Deed me first thought was to run from the words like the wind;
But me feet wouldn't move; and I listened as if I was watchin' a door,
For it might be a Saint smilin' kind, or a Divil ragin' out wid a roar.
And me father was sayin': ‘That's the long and short of it, Hughey, me lad:
'Twill be Oonah I'm wishful you'd take, and the bargain you'll find none too bad.
For she's red-headed, ay, and no beauty, I know, but, praise goodness, she's strong.

Just a stout working-lass; and by raison of that I'll be givin' you along
Them two heifers; and faix now the Kerry, she's pretty enough and to spare,
A rael dexter, lad. Musha,’ sez he, ‘Mister Flynn, sure that's spakin' him fair?’
And sez Flynn: ‘Man alive, I'd foreclose wid them bastes if they come in me way,
Though the girl's hair was greener than e'er an ould mermaid wrung out of the say.’
And then Hughey sez, clear as the light: ‘Sure what talk was of any such things?
'Tis a wife I come after,’ sez he, ‘and no thought of the fortune she brings.
Faith, I wouldn't be troubling a one of your bastes to step out of your shed;
All I want in the world's width is Maureen, herself and her little black head.’

The name of a field.