Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BARRY'S CALF, by JASON [PSEUD.]


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BARRY'S CALF, by                    
First Line: When barry went upon the land
Last Line: Was found to have a fertile vealer
Alternate Author Name(s): Jason
Subject(s): Cattle;curiosities & Wonders;pregnancy;wealth; Riches;fortunes


WHEN Barry went upon the land
He'd small amount of pelf or backing,
He'd but a stalwart frame, a brand,
And pluck—this last was never lacking.

This seems a slender sort of staff
To lean upon when done with rovin';
But Barry had, beside, a calf—
One little, harmless, brindled bovine.

'Twas not of any special breed,
But just a common sort of poddy,
And yet that pedigreeless weed
Held Barry's fortune in its body.

However, Barry went to graft
Upon his land, and started fencing;
Meanwhile the calf, with deep-laid craft,
Her strange career was just commencing.

For ere her age was seven weeks
(It's true, upon my soul and honour)
She felt, this freak of bovine freaks,
The pangs of calving come upon her.

When Barry with the dawn did rise,
And breathed the soft, cool morning a zephyrs,
Imagine his intense surprise
At seeing two fine yearling heifers.

And, filled with her maternal bliss,
Between the two the calf was standing
(Of course I've Barry's word for this—
He told me while the heifers branding).

But passing strange though this may seem.
'Twas nothing to what followed after.
She did not stay to sit and dream;
No, sir, that cowlet was a grafter.

And scarce a week had vanished by
Ere she produced a score of Leicesters,
While Barry heaved a puzzled sigh,
And tried to trace the calf's ancestors.

Then next that calf did introduce
A sleek and handsome Berkshire sucker—
It seemed a marvel how the deuce
She could supply them all with tucker.

A brood of half-grown Leghorn chicks
And healthy foal were next in being.
"Bedad," said Barry, "this here licks
All calves that ever I was seeing."

So Barry gathered gear and gold,
And grew a mighty corporation,
And pensioned-off the calf, grown old,
That laid his fortune's firm foundation.

They made him Justice of the Peace,
And woe to any cattle-stealer
Who, brought before him by the p'leece,
Was found to have a fertile vealer.





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