 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
SHANID'S KEEP.
I
A Conqueror stood upon Shanid's browAnd, ‘Build me aloft,’ he cried,
‘A castle to rule o'er the meads below
From the hills to the ocean's side!’
In green Ardineer, far down, alone
A beggar girl sang her song,
A sorrowful dirge for a roof o'erthrown
And a fire stamped out by wrong.
II
The beggar girl's song in the wind was drowned:A moment it lived: no more:
153
Went back after centuries four:
The great halls crumbled from roof to moat;
The grey Keep alone remains:
But echoes still of the girl's song float
All over the lonely plains.
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |