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The Load of Kale Plants
The poem 'The Load of Kale Plants' (as referenced in the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places, by May Blair.Once you have read the poem, you can return to the Irelandseye extract from 'Hiring Fairs and Market Places', which quotes this poem:
O sweet Ballymoney of fame and renown
I went to the fair, that being held in the town
On the fifth day of May, in the year forty-five
A very fine day for the bees for to hive.
Being young and undaunted my fortune to advance,
I went to the fair with a load of kale plants,
And up the Main Street, before Robinson’s Mart
I lowered my cart with a proud beating heart.
There were pamphreys and Dutch, and curleys so sweet,
And rousing drumheads that grow up like a leek.
There were cow kale, pull early boys, eat while you’re able
And pickle for dressing the gentleman’s table.
Now my plants were all sold, I wished them long life,
I have nothing to do but look out for a wife.
The ladies I’ll view, I’ll mark all their points,
I’ll not take a wife that is stiff in the joints.
The first that I met, she wore a silk gown,
With long yellow hair, and her curls hangin’ down,
Says I to myself, ‘My girl, you’re a swizzer,’
I stood her a tay, where we got the good measure.
And then I presumed for to kiss this young dame,
And there I presumed for to ask her her name,
Well indeed then, kind sir, and my name is McCloy,
I’m the peat cadger’s daughter, from the town of Armoy.
Return to the County Antrim extract from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places, by May Blair.
