Brown’s Mill Lasses Poem by C Richard Miles

Where are you now, you bonny Brown’s mill lasses
Whose nimble fingers tended warp and weft?
For looms now languish, no swift shuttle passes
Cotton threads and hands, which once were deft
Are gnarled with age which once belonged to them
Whose nimble fingers tended warp and weft.
Their sparking clogs clatter no more their anthem
Now eyes grow dim and fingers, once so lithe
Are gnarled with age which once belonged to them.
They once were sprightly, red-cheeked, blithe
But youth has left, yet useful skills remain
Now eyes grow dim and fingers, once so lithe
Struggle to open cans and ache with pain.
Though hearing fails, they still make out the tune
But youth has left, yet useful skills remain.
For noise forced them to lip-read ’cross the room.
They listen as I call, though swift time passes
Though hearing fails, they still make out the tune,
“Where are you now, you bonny Brown’s mill lasses.”