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Home  »  The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse  »  John Millington Synge (1871–1909)

Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.

On an Island

John Millington Synge (1871–1909)

YOU’VE pluck’d a curlew, drawn a hen,

Wash’d the shirts of seven men,

You’ve stuff’d my pillow, stretch’d the sheet,

And fill’d the pan to wash your feet,

You’ve coop’d the pullets, wound the clock,

And rinsed the young men’s drinking crock;

And now we’ll dance to jigs and reels,

Nail’d boots chasing girls’ naked heels,

Until your father’ll start to snore,

And Jude, now you’re married, will stretch on the floor.