Summary Poems of the Decade Annotations 3

The Lammas Hireling

After the fair, I'd still a light heart

and a heavy purse, he struck so cheap.

And cattle doted on him: in his time

mine only dropped heifers, fat as cream

Yields doubled. I grew fond of company

that knew when to shut up. Then one night,

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disturbed from dreams of my dear late wife,

I hunted down her torn voice to his pale form.

Stock-still in the light from the dark lantern,

stark-naked but for one bloody boot of fox-trap,

I knew him a warlock, a cow with leather horns.

To go into the hare gets you muckle sorrow,



the wisdom runs, muckle care. I levelled

and blew the small hour through his heart.
Ed-Q.»
The moon came out. By its yellow witness

I saw him fur over like a stone mossing.
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HIS ovely head thinned. His top lip gathered.

His eyes rose like bread. I carried him



in a sack that grew lighter at every step

and dropped him from a bridge. There was no

splash. Now my herd's elf-shot. I don't dream
but spend my nights casting ball from half-crowns S\vev-)
and my days here. Bless me Father for I have sinned.

It has been an hour since my last confession.



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