Robert Kirkland Kernighan Poems

There is laughter in the barnyard,
There is cackling o'er the way,
When the rooster sounds his trumpet
And the hens begin to lay.
...

The barn is full of barley and it 's loaded up with wheat :
They are pulling at the peas and the oats are all in
shock ;
The brown-armed boys that did it a-toiling in the heat,
Have made themselves this winter as solid as a rock :
...

He upward looks upon the sea-deep
Liquid of the splendid sky ;
He sees the cattle standing knee-deep
'Neath the sheltering cedars high.
...

Little All Right was sick, I ween ;
Little All Right was weak and wan,
And a beautiful angel all unseen
Was fitting his golden slippers on ;
He felt a stranger's soft caress :
...

Don't smoke your hams till you 've killed the pig ;

Do n't buy the carpet till the roof is thatched ;
Do n't measure the milk till the calf is there ;

Do n't count the chickens till the eggs are hatched.
...

So yıv been killin sheep?
Ye useless whelp ;
I 'm goin t put ye t sleep
Ye need n't yelp !
...

They may talk of the bird with plumage blue,
And the bird with the bosom red ;
They herald the spring with the song they sing
And tell us old winter is dead ;
...

' How Didy git that name? you ask :'
The speaker sat on the herring cask :
He oped his knife and whittled a stick

u He got that name when the woods wuz thick ;
...

Smith has got into trouble :
There 's a terrible hullabaloo !
And now the quandary's bothering me :
What's the popular thing to do?
...

Ah, yes, I miss the baby,
My little cherub bright ;
I miss it always in the day,
But miss it more at night.
...