"I still making hay"?? derrymacash

I've always heard it and sung it as "not making hay". Implying maybe that he's not getting on with things he ought to be getting on with. Which could either be wrtiting poems or the business of daily life, or maybe trying to get somewhere with the lady instead of thinking about it. Or maybe that he is in the city and he's really a countryman. Or all of them.

Or perhaps it is "still" after all. Or he used both words on different occasions, the way one might.

And the Queen of Hearts part of it also lends itself to multiple interpretations.

I can't see how a line which incorporates all those meanings can be described as anything but extremely economical. The only way I can see how that line can be desrcribed as clumsy is if internal rhymes ("Hearts/ tarts) are seen as unacceptable - and if that's so, much of the Irish tradition is out the window.