Cois na Teineadh (Beside the Fire) By T. W. Rolleston
WHERE glows the Irish hearth with peat There lives a subtle spell? The faint blue smoke, the gentle heat, The moorland odours tell.
Of white roads winding by the edge Of bare, untamèd land, Where dry stone wall or ragged hedge Runs wide on either hand.
To cottage lights that lure you in From rainy Western skies; And by the friendly glow within Of simple talk, and wise,
And tales of magic, love or arms From days when princes met To listen to the lay that charms The Connacht peasant yet,
There Honour shines through passions dire, There beauty blends with mirth? Wild hearts, ye never did aspire Wholly for things of earth!
Cold, cold this thousand years?yet still On many a time-stained page Your pride, your truth, your dauntless will, Burn on from age to age.
And still around the fires of peat Live on the ancient days; There still do living lips repeat The old and deathless lays.
And when the wavering wreaths ascend Blue in the evening air, The soul of Ireland seems to bend Above her children there.
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"You can explore the universe looking for somebody who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are, and you will not find that person anywhere. ~Buddist expression~
As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.
THE trees are in their autumn beauty, The woodland paths are dry, Under the October twilight the water Mirrors a still sky; Upon the brimming water among the stones Are nine-and-fifty Swans. The nineteenth autumn has come upon me Since I first made my count; I saw, before I had well finished, All suddenly mount And scatter wheeling in great broken rings Upon their clamorous wings.
I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, And now my heart is sore. All's changed since I, hearing at twilight, The first time on this shore, The bell-beat of their wings above my head, Trod with a lighter tread.
Unwearied still, lover by lover, They paddle in the cold Companionable streams or climb the air; Their hearts have not grown old; Passion or conquest, wander where they will, Attend upon them still.
But now they drift on the still water, Mysterious, beautiful; Among what rushes will they build, By what lake's edge or pool Delight men's eyes when I awake some day To find they have flown away?
Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days! Come near me, while I sing the ancient ways: Cuchulain battling with the bitter tide; The Druid, grey, wood-nurtured, quiet-eyed, Who cast round Fergus dreams, and ruin untold; And thine own sadness, where of stars, grown old In dancing silver-sandalled on the sea, Sing in their high and lonely melody. Come near, that no more blinded by man's fate, I find under the boughs of love and hate, In all poor foolish things that live a day, Eternal beauty wandering on her way. Come near, come near, come near - Ah, leave me still A little space for the rose-breath to fill! Lest I no more bear common things that crave; The weak worm hiding down in its small cave, The field-mouse running by me in the grass, And heavy mortal hopes that toil and pass; But seek alone to hear the strange things said By God to the bright hearts of those long dead, And learn to chaunt a tongue men do not know. Come near; I would, before my time to go, Sing of old Eire and the ancient ways: Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days.
I WILL arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made: Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, I hear it in the deep heart's core.
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