I WILL GO WITH MY FATHER A-PLOUGHING

By Joseph Campbell

I will go with my father a-ploughing

To the green field by the sea,

And the rooks and the crows and the seagulls

Will come flocking after me.

I will sing to the patient horses

With the lark in the white of the air,

And my father will sing the plough-song

That blesses the cleaving share.

I will go with my father a-sowing

To the red field by the sea,

And the rooks and the gulls and the starlings

Will come flocking after me.

I will sing to the striding sowers

With the finch on the greening sloe,

And my father will sing the seed-song

That only the wise men know.

I will go with my father a-reaping

To the brown field by the sea,

And the geese and the crows and the children

Will come flocking after me.

I will sing to the tanfaced reapers

With the wren in the heat of the sun,

And my father will sing the scythe-song

That joys for the harvest done.