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HERSELF AND MYSELF; AN OLD MAN'S SONG, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Twas beyond at macreddin, at owen doyle's weddin'
Last Line: "and I'd say to herself: ""troth, I'm time enough old."


'Twas beyond at Macreddin, at Owen Doyle's weddin',
The boys got the pair of us out for a reel.
Says I: "Boys, excuse us." Says they: "Don't refuse us"--
"I'll play nice and aisy," says Larry O'Neill.
So off we went trippin' it, up an' down steppin' it--
Herself and Myself on the back of the doore;
Till Molly--God bless her !--fell into the dresser,
An' I tumbled over a child on the floore.

Says Herself to Myself: "We're as good as the best of them."
Says Myself to Herself: "Shure, we're better than gold."
Says Herself to Myself: "We're as young as the rest o' them."
Says Myself to Herself: "Troth, we'll never grow old."

As down the lane goin', I felt my heart growin'
As young as it was forty-five years ago;
'Twas here in this boreen I first kissed my stoireen--
A sweet little colleen with skin like the snow.

I looked at my woman--a song she was hummin'
As old as the hills, so I gave her a pogue;
'Twas like our old courtin', half sarious, half sportin',
When Molly was young, an' when hoops were in vogue.

When she'd say to Myself: "You can coort with the best of them."
When I'd say to Herself: "Sure, I'm better than gold."
When she'd say to Myself: "You're as wild as the rest o' them."
And I'd say to Herself: "Troth, I'm time enough old."





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