Michael was handling steers on horseback till his feet
Gave on dismounting. All day long he rode,
Then, when the darkness came, his mates and he
Entered dog-tired to the rude abode
And ate their meat and sucked their bitter tea,
And rolled themselves in rugs and slept. The sea
Could not make men more drowsy; like the dead,
They lay under the lamp while the mosquitoes fed.
There was no time to think of Mary, none;
For when the work relaxed, the time for thought