Ballads of Irish chivalry By Robert Dwyer Joyce: Edited, with Annotations, by his brother P. W. Joyce |
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MY FIRST LOVE. |
 | Ballads of Irish chivalry |  |
MY FIRST LOVE.
I
Where towers the rock above the trees,With heath-bells blooming o'er,
Where waves the fern in summer breeze,
And shines the red lusmore,
In woodland nook beside the brook,
I sit and sadly pore
On love I nursed in boyhood first
For one I'll ne'er see more.
68
II
How fair, when shines the summer beamUpon the hillsides warm,
The lady fern beside the stream:
So fair my Margaret's form:
The snow-white crystals shine beneath,
The red lusmores above:
Ah! such the bright bright laughing teeth
And lips of my first love.
III
The gorse flowers Ullair's dells illume,One sea of golden light;
My Margaret's hair was like their bloom,
As yellow and as bright.
'Twill haunt me still through joy or ill,
Till death shall end my care,
The wondrous grace of her fair face
Beneath that golden hair.
IV
I loved her with a burning loveThat matched my boyhood well,
And brilliant were the dreams I wove
While tranced in that sweet spell;
And in my breast she'll reign and rest
Each eve while sad I pore,
Where ferns are green the rocks between,
And shines the red lusmore.
| Ballads of Irish chivalry | |