Ellen Forrester: Irish Woman Poet

Born Ellen Magennis in Clones in c 1828, she moved to Liverpool as a child and then lived in Manchester. She married a stone mason, Michael Forrester and they had five children, three of whom, Arthur, Fanny and Mary Magdalene, also published poetry. The Merry March Wind is taken from the 1869 collection Songs of the Rising Nation, and Other Poems, which she wrote with Arthur. She died in 1883.

 

 THE MERRY MARCH WIND.

 
Air— All Among the Barley.
 

OLD winter grim has left us,
Nor left behind a trace;
He saw the spring approaching,
And hid his wrinkled face.
Bright falls the pleasant sunshine.
On cottage wall and floor,
And the merry, merry March wind
Is whistling at the door.
Rattling at the window, whistling at the door
Oh, the merry, merry March wind
Is whistling at the door!

 
A youthful giant March is,
A giddy boy and gay,
As striding through the forest.
He shakes the trees in play.
He sweeps around the hill-top.
And scuds across the moor,
And whirling round the corner.
He whistles at the door.
Rattling at the window, whistling at the door-
Oh, the merry, merry March wind
Is whistling at the door!
 

He meets us in our rambles,
And such rude tricks be plays,
That bashful maidens fear him,
With his wild and wicked ways.
He bounds along the highway,
And drives the dust before.
He dances thro’ the chimney tops,
And whistles at the door.
Rattling at the window, whistling at the door-
Ob, the merry, merry March wind
Is whistling at the door!