 | Irish Songs and Ballads |  |
160
SNOW DRIFT.
Sigh on, sad wind,
O'er hill and forest,
With thee my spirit
Would fain go forth:
Thus unconfined,
When grief was sorest,
I should inherit
The dreary north.
O'er hill and forest,
With thee my spirit
Would fain go forth:
Thus unconfined,
When grief was sorest,
I should inherit
The dreary north.
With thee I'd sail
On viewless pinion
O'er snowy spaces
Where man is not;
And all things wail
The frost's dominion,
And summer's graces
Are all forgot.
On viewless pinion
O'er snowy spaces
Where man is not;
And all things wail
The frost's dominion,
And summer's graces
Are all forgot.
For my great grief,
All solace scorning,
Abhors the heaven
She's left a hell:
O'er flower and leaf,
The purple morning,
The golden even,
She spreads a spell.
All solace scorning,
161
She's left a hell:
O'er flower and leaf,
The purple morning,
The golden even,
She spreads a spell.
Till human speech
Seems false and hollow—
In man and woman
God's image lost.
Then I beseech
That I may follow
To haunts inhuman
Of snow and frost.
Seems false and hollow—
In man and woman
God's image lost.
Then I beseech
That I may follow
To haunts inhuman
Of snow and frost.
More true and chaste,
Thou bitter Norland,
Than southern languor,
Hot-blooded jars;
Thy wintry waste,
Thy solemn foreland,
Aurora's anger
Amongst the stars.
Thou bitter Norland,
Than southern languor,
Hot-blooded jars;
Thy wintry waste,
Thy solemn foreland,
Aurora's anger
Amongst the stars.
162
Sigh on, sad wind,
O'er hill and forest,
With thee my spirit
Would fain go forth;
Thus unconfined,
When grief was sorest,
I should inherit
The dreary north.
O'er hill and forest,
With thee my spirit
Would fain go forth;
Thus unconfined,
When grief was sorest,
I should inherit
The dreary north.
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