LINES WHEREIN YOUNG JONNEY PRAISES HIS COUSIN, MOLLY PARK, JULY 18, 1777
By Robert Dinsmoor
Yestre’en I
heard young Jonney say
“O! but I
lang to see the day,
That cousin
Mally I may he,
To be my wife—
That I might
freely wi’ her liv’,
E’en a’ my life.
She is a
bonnie lass indeed,
An’s come o’
right honest breed,
An’ weel she
can baith write an’ read,
An’ speaks right swash—
To get her
aff, there’ll be nae need
To gie much cash.
When’er she
enters in my sight,
Her very
presence gi’es delight,
For ilka
thing ‘bout her is right,
Her hair sae snod is—
Her shapes
by day, her words by night,
Prooves her a goddess.
She is right
canny at her wark,
An’ thinks
but little o’ the daurk.
At making
hat o’ smoth birch-bark,
I’m sure she dings—
She, brisk
and bonnie as a lark,
Melodious sings.
Robert
Dinsmoor (1757 – 1836) was born in Windham, New Hampshire to Scots Irish
immigrants. He was a simple farmer, but
also was a renowned poet known as “The Rustic Bard.” According to the book Poems of Robert
Dinsmoor, page 72, “Mary Park was born July 4, 1761; was daughter of Dea. Robert
and Jane (Wear) Park. Her father came to
America when 12 years of age with Alexander Park. His father, the emigrant, an honest man, who
paid his last month’s rent in Ireland Dec. 12, 1728, and brought his receipt
with him, which is now a sacred relic.
He was of Scotch blood. He came
in the winter of 1728 -29. Mary Park
became the loved wife of the “Rustic Bard” Dec. 31, 1782, - or Jan. 1, 1738, --
and died, as the Bard says in “16 years and 5 months to a day,” June 1, 1799, aged 37 yrs; greatly lamented
by him.”
Poems
of Robert Dinsmoor: “The Rustic Bard”,
by Robert Dinsmoor, James Dinsmoor, edited by Leonard Allison Morrison, Boston,
Massachusetts: Damrell & Upham “Old
Corner Book Store”, 1898, pages 71 – 71.
----------------------------------
The URL for
this post is
Copyright ©
2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
No comments:
Post a Comment