Love
Kitty of Coleraine
From A Book of Irish Verse, ed. W. B. Yeats (1900)
As beautiful Kitty one morning was tripping
With a pitcher of milk from the fair of Coleraine,
When she saw me she stumbled, the pitcher down tumbled,
And all the sweet buttermilk watered the plain.
O! what shall I do now! 'Twas looking at you, now;
Sure, sure, such a pitcher I'll ne'er meet again;
'Twas the pride of my dairy! O Barney O'Cleary,
You're sent as a plague to the girls of Coleraine!
I sat down beside her, and gently did chide her,
That such a misfortune should give her such pain;
A kiss then I gave her, and ere I did leave her,
She vowed for such pleasure she'd break it again.
'Twas haymaking season--I can't tell the reason--
Misfortunes will never come single 'tis plain;
For very soon after poor Kitty's disaster
The devil a pitcher was whole in Coleraine.
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Irish street ballads). “Kitty of Coleraine.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-irish-street-ballads/3/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Irish street ballads). “Kitty of Coleraine.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-irish-street-ballads/3/.
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