THE HARP OF AENGUS
_Edain came out of Midher's hill, and lay
Beside young Aengus in his tower of glass,
Where time is drowned in odour-laden winds
And druid moons, and murmuring of boughs,
And sleepy boughs, and boughs where apples made
Of opal and ruby and pale chrysolite
Awake unsleeping fires; and wove seven strings,
Sweet with all music, out of his long hair,
Because her hands had been made wild by love;
When Midher's wife had changed her to a fly,
He made a harp with druid apple wood
That she among her winds might know he wept;
And from that hour he has watched over none
But faithful lovers.
_Edain came out of Midher's hill, and lay
Beside young Aengus in his tower of glass,
Where time is drowned in odour-laden winds
And druid moons, and murmuring of boughs,
And sleepy boughs, and boughs where apples made
Of opal and ruby and pale chrysolite
Awake unsleeping fires; and wove seven strings,
Sweet with all music, out of his long hair,
Because her hands had been made wild by love;
When Midher's wife had changed her to a fly,
He made a harp with druid apple wood
That she among her winds might know he wept;
And from that hour he has watched over none
But faithful lovers.
Yeats
' 'Where
is Naisi? ' etc. _The dark-skinned men gather round
CONCHUBAR and draw their swords; but he motions them
away. _
I have no need of weapons,
There's not a traitor that dare stop my way.
Howl, if you will; but I, being king, did right
In choosing her most fitting to be queen,
And letting no boy lover take the sway.
THE SHADOWY WATERS
TO LADY GREGORY
_I walked among the seven woods of Coole,
Shan-walla, where a willow-bordered pond
Gathers the wild duck from the winter dawn;
Shady Kyle-dortha; sunnier Kyle-na-gno,
Where many hundred squirrels are as happy
As though they had been hidden by green boughs,
Where old age cannot find them; Pairc-na-lea,
Where hazel and ash and privet blind the paths;
Dim Pairc-na-carraig, where the wild bees fling
Their sudden fragrances on the green air;
Dim Pairc-na-tarav, where enchanted eyes
Have seen immortal, mild, proud shadows walk;
Dim Inchy wood, that hides badger and fox
And marten-cat, and borders that old wood
Wise Biddy Early called the wicked wood:
Seven odours, seven murmurs, seven woods.
I had not eyes like those enchanted eyes,
Yet dreamed that beings happier than men
Moved round me in the shadows, and at night
My dreams were cloven by voices and by fires;
And the images I have woven in this story
Of Forgael and Dectora and the empty waters
Moved round me in the voices and the fires,
And more I may not write of, for they that cleave
The waters of sleep can make a chattering tongue
Heavy like stone, their wisdom being half silence.
How shall I name you, immortal, mild, proud shadows?
I only know that all we know comes from you,
And that you come from Eden on flying feet.
Is Eden far away, or do you hide
From human thought, as hares and mice and coneys
That run before the reaping-hook and lie
In the last ridge of the barley? Do our woods
And winds and ponds cover more quiet woods,
More shining winds, more star-glimmering ponds?
Is Eden out of time and out of space?
And do you gather about us when pale light
Shining on water and fallen among leaves,
And winds blowing from flowers, and whirr of feathers
And the green quiet, have uplifted the heart? _
_I have made this poem for you, that men may read it
Before they read of Forgael and Dectora,
As men in the old times, before the harps began,
Poured out wine for the high invisible ones. _
SEPTEMBER, 1900.
THE HARP OF AENGUS
_Edain came out of Midher's hill, and lay
Beside young Aengus in his tower of glass,
Where time is drowned in odour-laden winds
And druid moons, and murmuring of boughs,
And sleepy boughs, and boughs where apples made
Of opal and ruby and pale chrysolite
Awake unsleeping fires; and wove seven strings,
Sweet with all music, out of his long hair,
Because her hands had been made wild by love;
When Midher's wife had changed her to a fly,
He made a harp with druid apple wood
That she among her winds might know he wept;
And from that hour he has watched over none
But faithful lovers. _
_PERSONS IN THE PLAY_
FORGAEL
AIBRIC
SAILORS
DECTORA
_The deck of an ancient ship. At the right of the stage
is the mast, with a large square sail hiding a great
deal of the sky and sea on that side. The tiller is at
the left of the stage; it is a long oar coming through
an opening in the bulwark. The deck rises in a series
of steps behind the tiller, and the stern of the ship
curves overhead. All the woodwork is of dark green;
and the sail is dark green, with a blue pattern upon
it, having a little copper colour here and there. The
sky and sea are dark blue. All the persons of the play
are dressed in various tints of green and blue, the
men with helmets and swords of copper, the woman with
copper ornaments upon her dress. When the play opens
there are four persons upon the deck. AIBRIC stands by
the tiller. FORGAEL sleeps upon the raised portion of
the deck towards the front of the stage. Two SAILORS
are standing near to the mast, on which a harp is
hanging. _
FIRST SAILOR.
Has he not led us into these waste seas
For long enough?
SECOND SAILOR.
Aye, long and long enough.
is Naisi? ' etc. _The dark-skinned men gather round
CONCHUBAR and draw their swords; but he motions them
away. _
I have no need of weapons,
There's not a traitor that dare stop my way.
Howl, if you will; but I, being king, did right
In choosing her most fitting to be queen,
And letting no boy lover take the sway.
THE SHADOWY WATERS
TO LADY GREGORY
_I walked among the seven woods of Coole,
Shan-walla, where a willow-bordered pond
Gathers the wild duck from the winter dawn;
Shady Kyle-dortha; sunnier Kyle-na-gno,
Where many hundred squirrels are as happy
As though they had been hidden by green boughs,
Where old age cannot find them; Pairc-na-lea,
Where hazel and ash and privet blind the paths;
Dim Pairc-na-carraig, where the wild bees fling
Their sudden fragrances on the green air;
Dim Pairc-na-tarav, where enchanted eyes
Have seen immortal, mild, proud shadows walk;
Dim Inchy wood, that hides badger and fox
And marten-cat, and borders that old wood
Wise Biddy Early called the wicked wood:
Seven odours, seven murmurs, seven woods.
I had not eyes like those enchanted eyes,
Yet dreamed that beings happier than men
Moved round me in the shadows, and at night
My dreams were cloven by voices and by fires;
And the images I have woven in this story
Of Forgael and Dectora and the empty waters
Moved round me in the voices and the fires,
And more I may not write of, for they that cleave
The waters of sleep can make a chattering tongue
Heavy like stone, their wisdom being half silence.
How shall I name you, immortal, mild, proud shadows?
I only know that all we know comes from you,
And that you come from Eden on flying feet.
Is Eden far away, or do you hide
From human thought, as hares and mice and coneys
That run before the reaping-hook and lie
In the last ridge of the barley? Do our woods
And winds and ponds cover more quiet woods,
More shining winds, more star-glimmering ponds?
Is Eden out of time and out of space?
And do you gather about us when pale light
Shining on water and fallen among leaves,
And winds blowing from flowers, and whirr of feathers
And the green quiet, have uplifted the heart? _
_I have made this poem for you, that men may read it
Before they read of Forgael and Dectora,
As men in the old times, before the harps began,
Poured out wine for the high invisible ones. _
SEPTEMBER, 1900.
THE HARP OF AENGUS
_Edain came out of Midher's hill, and lay
Beside young Aengus in his tower of glass,
Where time is drowned in odour-laden winds
And druid moons, and murmuring of boughs,
And sleepy boughs, and boughs where apples made
Of opal and ruby and pale chrysolite
Awake unsleeping fires; and wove seven strings,
Sweet with all music, out of his long hair,
Because her hands had been made wild by love;
When Midher's wife had changed her to a fly,
He made a harp with druid apple wood
That she among her winds might know he wept;
And from that hour he has watched over none
But faithful lovers. _
_PERSONS IN THE PLAY_
FORGAEL
AIBRIC
SAILORS
DECTORA
_The deck of an ancient ship. At the right of the stage
is the mast, with a large square sail hiding a great
deal of the sky and sea on that side. The tiller is at
the left of the stage; it is a long oar coming through
an opening in the bulwark. The deck rises in a series
of steps behind the tiller, and the stern of the ship
curves overhead. All the woodwork is of dark green;
and the sail is dark green, with a blue pattern upon
it, having a little copper colour here and there. The
sky and sea are dark blue. All the persons of the play
are dressed in various tints of green and blue, the
men with helmets and swords of copper, the woman with
copper ornaments upon her dress. When the play opens
there are four persons upon the deck. AIBRIC stands by
the tiller. FORGAEL sleeps upon the raised portion of
the deck towards the front of the stage. Two SAILORS
are standing near to the mast, on which a harp is
hanging. _
FIRST SAILOR.
Has he not led us into these waste seas
For long enough?
SECOND SAILOR.
Aye, long and long enough.
