country ways

the lamp burned in my little room above the silent stable i looked out in the winter gloom as well as i was able no bird disturbed the brooding night or horses hoofed the road no angel at the window offered to share my load * in an icy wintry blast as the snow was falling fast i went out to milk the cow and tripped over the plow that the lazy hired man who since the world began had been sleeping on his feet without missing a beat had left there in the gloom to hasten me to doom and he laughed in his dream floating down a shady stream where an apple cheeked lass winked at him as he went past and i lay in the mud in the mud, in the cold mud * silas martin picked an apple but didn't feel like eating it sarah jenkins shook a rug but didn't feel like beating it everything that moves moves at its own pace sometimes nothing moves at all upon the earth's dark face