The Farmer's Wife

‘Why the commotion now, my love?

You cry at the breaking dawn,

The dog’s asleep in his kennel still

Though the c**k 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!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[ba_mcfarlane]

I'm thinking of having a glass of the finest single malt to sip on, as I read you. I would delight in both; the whiskey smooth rolling over my tongue, as I savour the words that seamlessly flowed onto paper from your pen.
Mr. Paget, you are the best read out here. Cheers!

[Valentine]

Tractor rolled over on her lover, well, I guess that is what he gets for rolling over on the farmer's wife.
Another great write David. I love all of your work..God bless..Kathie

[Johanna]

What an amazing poem.. blown away by the whole story.. love poems who tell a story, and written so amazingly with the perfect rhyming words.. blown away, the end was so powerful too. Amazing job! super impressed, 100/100 from me :)

[...]

Loved it!!!

[Tate Morgan]

Your work makes me dream of the day i might sometime long in the future hopefully think to create something like Sir Paget.

[roarke]

an ode to the statement,"you can never go back" The farmer's wife can't have her first husband back nor feel the way she did long ago for her current husband and because of that, this husband has found out it they can't go back tot he way he thought it was... and now, it is what it is. A timeless conundrum.

[Poppie Mira]

a classic, deepest in its thoughts, can see and feel its meaning.

[Shin ( formerly known a..]

Now, now Mr. Paget, that's not the way to treat a lady, even if she is your wife. It is god who dispenses and disposes. The early morning cockerel habit ( also known as the tent maker) was never the lover as far as the wife is concerned. With downed fences, leaking dams and pigs breaking out of their pens, its a wonder that the wife is still there. That's loyalty! A funny write!