A Man of Double Deed

Since I haven't been able to get back to scanning in my Japan negatives, I thought I'd break things up a bit with a poem that constitutes the lyrics of an Irish children's song.  Over four decades ago I was given an LP of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem at Carnegie Hall, and it became  one of my favorites.  In fact, I memorized many of the lyrics and sang along — except for the Gaelic, that is.  But I think I did a fair job of imitating the sounds of some of the Gaelic without having a clue what I was saying.

They did a long segment of children's songs, and one of them was called "A Man of Double Deed."  The lyrics appear below:

There was a man of double deed,

Who sowed his garden full of seed.

And when that seed began to grow,

'Twas like a garden full of snow.

And when that snow began to fall,

Like birds, it was, upon the wall.

And when those birds began to fly,

'Twas like a shipwreck in the sky.

And when the sky began to crack,

'Twas like a stick upon my back.

And when my back began to smart,

'Twas like a penknife in my heart.

And when my heart began to bleed,

Then I was dead and dead indeed.