memories of a cruel autumn on the black hill

it was a bad autumn as any i can remember

i couldn’t been more than nine by my gumption

i’d been coughing green phlegm all autumn and

mamma was afraid i was gonna catch consumption

and then on a cold guy fawkes day

she gazed at the gloomy yellow light

over the hill and said it looks like snow

it was early we thought yet snow fell in the night

and melted leaving long white smears on the scree

and then it fell again real heavy this time and though

from the drifts we dug a great many sheep

the ravens had a feast when it thawed