University of Virginia Library

CUCHULLIN AND EMER

Cuchullin
Come down, fair Emer, from out thy prison,
Emer, my love, come down to me;
For the radiant moon at last has risen
That shall light us safe to the rolling sea.

Emer
Who is the hero, half-beholden
In the beechen shadow beneath my bower,
Of mien majestic and tresses golden,
Singing thus in the still night hour?

Cuchullin
It is I, Cuchullin, thy faithful lover,
Come from afar to set thee free;
It is I that stand in the beechen cover,
Sending my heart in song to thee.

Emer
Of my father stern, alas! I fear me,
Of my brothers brave and my kinsfolk all;
Ere thy mighty hands afar can bear me,
I must pass through their bright-lit banquet hall.

Cuchullin
Fear not thy kinsmen's hostile number,
Thy brothers brave and thy haughty sire;
Through the banquet hall they are stretched in slumber,
Quenched are the torches, dead the fire.

Emer
I fear for the fosse so deep and sullen,
And the watch-dogs fierce that bay on its brim;
Not for myself I fear, Cuchullin,
But lest they should rend thee limb from limb.

Cuchullin
Thy father's hounds are my old companions,
They will fawn at my feet till, as eagles float
Out from the rock with their young on their pinions,
With thee at my bosom I leap the moat.

Emer
Every Sept is our kinship boasting
Over Bregia north to Dun-Lir;
They will follow at dawn with such a hosting,
Alas! alas! for thy life I fear.

Cuchullin
See! how my war-car bounds in the shadows,
Light as a golden boat on the bay!
Lo! my good steeds! that athwart the meadows
Tempest-footed shall whirl us away.

Emer
Good-bye! for ever my father, my father,
For a loving heart to me you bore.
Good-bye, fair Lusk, I shall never gather
Thy sweet wild blossoms and berries more.
Good-bye for ever, fortress of power,
And the lawn, and the beeches, I loved so well!
Good-bye for ever, my maiden bower,
Where Love first laid me under his spell!
My father—a bitter wrong I do him;
But thus, even thus, his power is past.
As the sea draws the little Tolka to him,
Thou hast drawn me, Cuchullin, to thee at last.
Like a god to his earthly mistress bending
Thou hast stooped for thy bride from the hills above.
I would die, Cuchullin, thy life defending,
And, oh, let me die if I lose thy love!