An Old Woman Of The Roads, By Padraic Colum

This weeks top Irish poem is number 11, “An Old Woman of the Roads” by Padraic Colum.

A lot of people refer to this poem as a simple poem. But you could argue that simplicity is intended, which actually gives more depth to the poem.

This poem will strike a chord with every reader. Padraic writes about his longing for a home and the comforts that come with it. After all, we all need somewhere to live and call home.

This poem is about an old travelling woman going from house to house, back in the early 1900s in Ireland, where very few people had their own house. She always admired the houses she visited, longing and praying to have her own little House someday.

”I could be quiet there at night beside the fire and by myself sure of a bed and loathe to leave the ticking clock and the shining delph”

The poem itself makes you feel for the older woman and wishing that I could buy her that home. It reminds us of how fortunate many of us are today.

Enjoy this incredible Irish poem!

An Old Woman of the Roads

O, to have a little house!
To own the hearth and stool and all!
The heaped up sods against the fire,
The pile of turf against the wall!To have a clock with weights and chains
And pendulum swinging up and down!
A dresser filled with shining delph,
Speckled and white and blue and brown!

I could be busy all the day
Clearing and sweeping hearth and floor,
And fixing on their shelf again
My white and blue and speckled store!

I could be quiet there at night
Beside the fire and by myself,
Sure of a bed and loth to leave
The ticking clock and the shining delph!

Och! but I’m weary of mist and dark,
And roads where there’s never a house nor bush,
And tired I am of bog and road,
And the crying wind and the lonesome hush!

And I am praying to God on high,
And I am praying Him night and day,
For a little house – a house of my own
Out of the wind’s and the rain’s way.