From the Land of Dreams By John Todhunter. With an introduction by T. W. Rolleston |
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THE WAVES' LEGEND ON THE STRAND OF
BALA |
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 | From the Land of Dreams |  |
THE WAVES' LEGEND ON THE STRAND OF BALA
I
The sea moans on the strand,Moans over shingle and shell;
O moaning sea! what sorrowful story
Do thy wild waves tell?
II
Ever they moan on the strand,And my ear, like a sounding shell,
Chants to me the sorrowful story
The moaning billows tell:
III
For Bala the Sweet-Voiced moan!Here on the lonely strand
Fell Bala, Prince of the Race of Rury,
Slain by no foeman's hand.
IV
Sweet was your tongue, O Bala,To win men's love; your voice
Made sigh for you the maids of Eman;
But nobler was your choice.
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V
She gave for your heart her heart,Warm in her swan-white breast,
Aillin of Laigen, Lugah's daughter,
The fairest bird of his nest.
VI
Their pledge was here by the shoreTo meet, come joy or pain;
And swift in his war-car Bala from Eman
Sped o'er the sundering plain.
VII
He found her not by the shore,Gloom was o'er sea and sky,
And a man of the Shee with dreadful face
On a blast from the south rushed by.
VIII
Said Bala: “Stay that man!Ask him what word he brings?”
“A woe on the Dun of Lugah! A woe
On Eman of the Kings!
IX
“Wail for Aillin the Fair!Wail for him her feet
Were swift to seek on the lonely strand
Where they shall never meet!
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X
“Swift were her feet on the way,Till me she meet on her track,
A hound of swiftness, a shape of fear,
A tiding to turn her back.
XI
“Swift are the lover's feet,But swifter our malice flies!
I told her: Bala is dead; and dead
In her sunny house she lies.”
XII
He scowled on Bala and roseA wrath of the mist, and fled
Like a wind-rent cloud; and suddenly Bala,
With a great cry, fell dead.
XIII
So moans the sea on the strand,Moans over shingle and shell.
O moaning sea, of many a sorrow
These wild waves tell!
| From the Land of Dreams | |