IT'S in Connacht or in Munster that yourself might travel wide, <br />And be asking all the herds you'd meet along the countryside, <br />But you'd never meet a one could shew the likes of her till now, <br />Where she's grazing in a Leinster field my little Kerry cow. <br /> <br />If herself went to the cattle fairs she'd put all cows to shame, <br />For the finest poets of the land would meet to sing her fame; <br />And the young girls would be asking leave to stroke her satin coat; <br />They'd be praising and caressing her, and calling her a dote. <br /> <br />If the King of Spain gets news of her he'll fill his purse with gold, <br />And set sail to ask the English King where she is to be sold. <br />But the King of Spain may come to me, a crown upon his brow, <br />It is he may keep his golden purse and I my Kerry cow. <br /> <br />The priest maybe will tell her fame to the Holy Pope of Rome, <br />And the Cardinals' College send for her to leave her Irish home; <br />But it's heart-broke she would be itself to cross the Irish sea, <br />'Twould be best they'd send a blessing to my Kerry cow and me. <br /> <br />When the Ulster men hear tell of her, they'll come with swords an' pikes, <br />For it's civil war there'll be no less if they should see her likes, <br />And you'll read it in the paper of the bloody fight there's been, <br />An' the Orangemen they're burying in fields of Leinster green. <br /> <br />There are red cows that's contrary, and there's white cows quare and wild, <br />But my Kerry cow is biddable, an' gentle as a child. <br />You may rare up kings and heroes on the lovely milk she yields, <br />For she's fit to foster generals to fight our battle-fields. <br /> <br />In the histories they'll be making they've a right to put her name <br />With the horse of Troy and Oisin's hounds and other beasts of fame. <br />And the painters will be painting her beneath the hawthorn bough <br />Where she's grazing on the good green grass my little Kerry cow.<br /><br />Winifred Mary Letts<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-kerry-cow/
