Padraic Colum




A Cradle Song

O men from the fields,
Come gently within.
Tread softly, softly
O men coming in!
Mavourneen* is going
From me and from you,
Where Mary will fold him
With mantle of blue!
From reek of the smoke
And cold of the floor
And the peering of things
Across the half-door.
O men of the fields,
Soft, softly come thro'
Mary puts round him
Her mantle of blue.

*Mavourneen means ‘my darling’