With the Wild Geese By Emily Lawless: With An Introduction by Stopford A. Brooke |
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| TWO SONGS, AN APPEAL
AND A RETORT |
 | With the Wild Geese |  |
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TWO SONGS, AN APPEAL AND A RETORT
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“WHEN BEACHED STREAMS”
SONG
When beached streams run thick and slow,
And efts upclimb, with oozy slime,
And only marish blossoms blow,
Then sounds the merry hunting horn.
Blow! blow! the merry hunting horn.
And efts upclimb, with oozy slime,
And only marish blossoms blow,
Then sounds the merry hunting horn.
Blow! blow! the merry hunting horn.
When all the ways are dark and brown,
And not a bird uplifts its strain,
And leaves come circling slowly down,
Then starts the merry hunting train.
Blow! blow! the merry hunting train.
And not a bird uplifts its strain,
And leaves come circling slowly down,
Then starts the merry hunting train.
Blow! blow! the merry hunting train.
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When rain-drops stand on every ledge,
And all forlorn, the forests mourn,
And daily starker grows the hedge,
Then comes the merry hunting time,
Blow! blow! the merry hunting time.
And all forlorn, the forests mourn,
And daily starker grows the hedge,
Then comes the merry hunting time,
Blow! blow! the merry hunting time.
When Time the gold with grey replaces,
And mocks with scorn the hues of morn,
And thins the long-remembered faces,
Then sounds the merry hunting horn,
Blow! blow! the merry hunting horn.
And mocks with scorn the hues of morn,
And thins the long-remembered faces,
Then sounds the merry hunting horn,
Blow! blow! the merry hunting horn.
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THE CORMORANT
SONG
Now the seagull spreads his wing,
And the puffin seeks the shore,
Home flies every living thing,
Yo, ho! the breakers roar!
Only the Cormorant, dark and sly,
Watches the waves with a sea-green eye.
And the puffin seeks the shore,
Home flies every living thing,
Yo, ho! the breakers roar!
Only the Cormorant, dark and sly,
Watches the waves with a sea-green eye.
Under his bows the breakers fleet,
All alone, alone went he;
Flying alone through the blinding sleet,
Flying alone through the raging sea.
Only the Cormorant, dark and sly,
Watches the waves with a sea-green eye.
All alone, alone went he;
Flying alone through the blinding sleet,
Flying alone through the raging sea.
Only the Cormorant, dark and sly,
Watches the waves with a sea-green eye.
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Round his bark the billows roar,
Dancing along to a lonely grave;
Death behind, and Death before.
Yo, ho! the breakers rave!
Only the Cormorant, dark and sly,
Watches the waves with a sea-green eye.
Dancing along to a lonely grave;
Death behind, and Death before.
Yo, ho! the breakers rave!
Only the Cormorant, dark and sly,
Watches the waves with a sea-green eye.
Hark! the waves on their iron floor,
See Kilstiffin's naked brow!
Iron cliff, and iron shore,
Erin's saints preserve him now!
Only the Cormorant, dark and sly,
Watches the waves with a sea-green eye.
See Kilstiffin's naked brow!
Iron cliff, and iron shore,
Erin's saints preserve him now!
Only the Cormorant, dark and sly,
Watches the waves with a sea-green eye.
Hark! was that a drowning cry?
Erin's saints receive his soul!
Nothing now twixt sea and sky.
Yo, ho! the breakers roll!
Only the Cormorant, dark and sly,
Watches the waves with a sea-green eye.
Erin's saints receive his soul!
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Yo, ho! the breakers roll!
Only the Cormorant, dark and sly,
Watches the waves with a sea-green eye.
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AN APPEAL
Days of unstinted splendour, days of unceasing rain,Days all beringed with pleasure, days all bestreaked with pain.
Hark! for I hear them calling, from over the rocks and the sand;
Hark! for I hear them calling, far off in that wild west land;
Up from the hearts of the mountains, cold, ascetic, severe;
Up from the breasts of the streams, brown, bejewelled, and clear;
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They rise, they return, they throng; ghosts of the days that are past.
Past, and dim, not dead, they live, as our lost ones live,
In our eyes, in our hearts, in our souls, with all that they had to give,
And the sound of Atlantic pervades them, and seems in our ears from afar,
Like the sound of Thy voice, Oh Eternal, whose runnels and ripples we are.
Thine were they ere we knew them, giver of joy and of pain;
Thine those days, not ours; to Thee they returned again.
For what are the drops and the streams to the infinite sweep of the sea;
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And the days yet unborn shall be good, and the children shall walk in Thy light:
Say, shall it not be so, who bringest the day from the night?
Look! for I see them coming, far over the rocks and the sand;
Look! for I see them coming, away to that wild west land,
Our own west land, which knows us, whose sons and daughters are we,
Waste, untoward to others, dear as a mother to me.
Whose days shall yet be good, whose daughters and sons shall rejoice,
Standing erect and proud, in the old green home of their choice.
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Though we, who plead, pass and perish, windblown waifs of a night.
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A RETORT
Not hers your vast imperial mart,
Where myriad hopes on fears are hurled,
Where furious rivals meet and part
To woo a world.
Where myriad hopes on fears are hurled,
Where furious rivals meet and part
To woo a world.
Not hers your vast imperial town,
Your mighty mammoth piles of gain,
Your loaded vessels sweeping down
To glut the main.
Your mighty mammoth piles of gain,
Your loaded vessels sweeping down
To glut the main.
Unused, unseen, her rivers flow,
From mountain tarn to ocean tide;
Wide vacant leagues the sunbeams show,
The rain-clouds hide.
From mountain tarn to ocean tide;
Wide vacant leagues the sunbeams show,
The rain-clouds hide.
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You swept them vacant! Your decree
Bid all her budding commerce cease;
You drove her from your subject sea,
To starve in peace!
Bid all her budding commerce cease;
You drove her from your subject sea,
To starve in peace!
Well, be it peace! Resigned they flow,
No laden fleet adown them glides,
But wheeling salmon sometimes show
Their silvered sides.
No laden fleet adown them glides,
But wheeling salmon sometimes show
Their silvered sides.
And sometimes through the long still day
The breeding herons slowly rise,
Lifting grey tranquil wings away,
To tranquil skies.
The breeding herons slowly rise,
Lifting grey tranquil wings away,
To tranquil skies.
Stud all your shores with prosperous towns!
Blacken your hill-sides, mile on mile!
Redden with bricks your patient downs!
And proudly smile!
Blacken your hill-sides, mile on mile!
Redden with bricks your patient downs!
And proudly smile!
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A day will come before you guess,
A day when men, with clearer light,
Will rue that deed beyond redress,
Will loathe that sight.
A day when men, with clearer light,
Will rue that deed beyond redress,
Will loathe that sight.
And, loathing, fly the hateful place,
And, shuddering, quit the hideous thing,
For where unblackened rivers race,
And skylarks sing.
And, shuddering, quit the hideous thing,
For where unblackened rivers race,
And skylarks sing.
For where, remote from smoke and noise,
Old Leisure sits knee-deep in grass;
Where simple days bring simple joys,
And lovers pass.
Old Leisure sits knee-deep in grass;
Where simple days bring simple joys,
And lovers pass.
I see her in those coming days,
Still young, still gay; her unbound hair
Crowned with a crown of starlike rays,
Serenely fair.
Still young, still gay; her unbound hair
Crowned with a crown of starlike rays,
Serenely fair.
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I see an envied haunt of peace,
Calm and untouched; remote from roar,
Where wearied men may from their burdens cease
On a still shore.
Calm and untouched; remote from roar,
Where wearied men may from their burdens cease
On a still shore.
| With the Wild Geese | |