The Farmer's Wife Poem by David Lewis Paget

‘Why the commotion now, my love?
You cry at the breaking dawn,
The dog's asleep in his kennel still
Though the cock has crowed for the morn;
The birds have stirred in the branches there
Of the willow, out by the lake,
Why do you weep, and cry, and mourn
Before you're even awake? '

‘What became of the silence we
Enjoyed in the days gone by,
When a simple glance was enough romance
And we lay, looked up at the sky.
When a whispered word that I barely heard
Would sound from your own sweet lips,
As my hand reached out to relieve your doubt,
Caressing your fingertips? '

‘I must get out to the barley field,
The sheep are starting to lamb,
The fence is down by the hillside mound,
And the water's leached from the dam,
The days are long, and I must be strong
For the work will never keep,
So why do you lie and weep and cry
When I need to get to sleep? '

‘The pigs broke out of the pen last night,
I must rebuild the sty,
They're wandering over the cabbage patch,
So today, it's do or die!
I haven't the help I used to have
Since John - well! I should have said,
He toppled the tractor in the ditch
And now, well now, he's dead! '

‘Nothing will bring him back you know,
Your crying's all in vain,
All of those hours he spent with you
They caused me only pain!
Settle your head and love me now
As once you did in the past…'
‘Never! ' she said, her eyes were dead
And the tears came thick and fast!

10 May 2012