The Daft Bird
When day is past an’ peace comes doon wi’ gloamin’An’ twa by twa the young fowk pass the yett,Auld stocks like me maun let their thochts content them,Mindin’ o’ coortin’s that they’ll no forget.Ye’re no sae far awa the nicht, my Marget,Tho’ on the brae-heid, past the dyke ye lie,Whaur ae daft bird is singin’ i’ the kirkyairdAnd ae star watches i’ the evenin’ sky.
Late bird, daft bird, the likes o’ you are bedded,The daylicht’s deid, it’s hame that ye should be,Yer voice is naucht to them that canna hear ye;But sing you on, it isna naucht to me.Dod, like yersel’, it’s time that I was sleepin’,Sae lang it is since Marget laid her doon,And ilka year treids up ahint anitherLike evenin’s ghaist ahint the aifternoon.
For rest comes slaw to you an’ me, I’m thinkin’,Oor day’s wark’s surely lang o’ wearin’ through,The gloamin’s had been wearier an’ langer,Thae nichts o’ June, late warker, wantin’ you.I maun hae patience yet, I’ll no be grievin’,There’s them that disna fail tho’ day be spent,An’ yon daft bird’s aye singing i’ the kirkyaird--Lord, I will bide my time, an’ bide content.
Words in this poem
- yett n.
- Any one of several species of large marine gastropods belonging to the genus Yetus, or Cymba; a boat shell.
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- daft a.
- Stupid; folish; idiotic; also, delirious; insance; as, he has gone daft. [OE. daft, deft, deft, stupid; prob. the same word as E. deft. See Deft.]
- bedded a.
- Provided with a bed; as, double-bedded room; placed or arranged in a bed or beds.
- canna n.
- A measure of length in Italy, varying from six to seven feet. [It.]
- slaw n.
- Sliced cabbage served as a salad, cooked or uncooked. [D. sla, contr. fr. salade, OD. salaet, salad. See Salad.]
- wark n.
- Work; a building. [See Work.]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Daft Bird is in the public domain. This text is taken from Bonnie Joann, and other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #69484; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Violet Jacob, The Daft Bird, in Bonnie Joann, and Other Poems (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #69484, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jacob-bonnie-joann/the-daft-bird.html, id L21937.
Form and metre
The Daft Bird is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-AAB-B gloamin · yettA · them · forgetA · margetA · lieB · kirkyaird · skyB
- 2 -AAA-B-B bedded · beA · yeA · meA · sleepin · doonB · anither · aifternoonB
- 3 -A-A-B-B thinkin · throughA · langer · youA · grievin · spentB · kirkyaird · contentB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When day is past an’ peace comes doon wi’ gloamin’ | 11 | ··········· |
| An’ twa by twa the young fowk pass the yett, | 10 | ·········· |
| Auld stocks like me maun let their thochts content them, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Mindin’ o’ coortin’s that they’ll no forget. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Ye’re no sae far awa the nicht, my Marget, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Tho’ on the brae-heid, past the dyke ye lie, | 10 | ·········· |
| Whaur ae daft bird is singin’ i’ the kirkyaird | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| And ae star watches i’ the evenin’ sky. | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Late bird, daft bird, the likes o’ you are bedded, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| The daylicht’s deid, it’s hame that ye should be, | 10 | ·········· |
| Yer voice is naucht to them that canna hear ye; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| But sing you on, it isna naucht to me. | 10 | ·········· |
| Dod, like yersel’, it’s time that I was sleepin’, | 11 | ··········· |
| Sae lang it is since Marget laid her doon, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And ilka year treids up ahint anither | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Like evenin’s ghaist ahint the aifternoon. | 11 | ··········· |
| For rest comes slaw to you an’ me, I’m thinkin’, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Oor day’s wark’s surely lang o’ wearin’ through, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The gloamin’s had been wearier an’ langer, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Thae nichts o’ June, late warker, wantin’ you. | 10 | ·········· |
| I maun hae patience yet, I’ll no be grievin’, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| There’s them that disna fail tho’ day be spent, | 10 | ·········· |
| An’ yon daft bird’s aye singing i’ the kirkyaird-- | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Lord, I will bide my time, an’ bide content. | 10 | ········/˘ |
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