Kitty of Coleraine

by Charles Dawson Shanly English

As beautiful Kitty one morning was tripping   With a pitcher of milk, from the fair of Coleraine, When she saw me she stumbled, the pitcher it tumbled,   And all the sweet buttermilk watered the plain. “O, what shall I do now—’t was looking at you now!   Sure, sure, such a pitcher I ’ll ne’er meet again! ’T was the pride of my dairy: O Barney M’Cleary!   You ’re sent as a plague to the girls of Coleraine.” I sat down beside her, and gently did chide her,   That such a misfortune should give her such pain. A kiss then I gave her; and ere I did leave her,   She vowed for such pleasure she ’d break it again. ’T was hay-making season—I can’t tell the reason—   Misfortunes will never come single, ’t is plain; For very soon after poor Kitty’s disaster   The devil a pitcher was whole in Coleraine.

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