70. The Others by Seumas O'Sullivan. Colum, Padraic. 1922. Anthology of Irish Verse

Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922.

70. The Others

By Seumas O'Sullivan


FROM our hidden places
By a secret path,
We come in the moonlight
To the side of the green rath.

There the night through	5
We take our pleasure,
Dancing to such a measure
As earth never knew.

To song and dance
And lilt without a name,	10
So sweetly breathed
’Twould put a bird to shame.

And many a young maiden
Is there, of mortal birth,
Her young eyes laden	15
With dreams of earth.

And many a youth entranced
Moves slowly in the wildered round,
His brave lost feet enchanted,
With the rhythm of faery sound.	20

Music so forest wild
And piercing sweet would bring
Silence on blackbirds singing
Their best in the ear of spring.

And now they pause in their dancing,	25
And look with troubled eyes,
Earth straying children
With sudden memory wise.

They pause, and their eyes in the moonlight
With fairy wisdom cold,	30
Grow dim and a thought goes fluttering
In the hearts no longer old.

And then the dream forsakes them,
And sighing, they turn anew,
As the whispering music takes them,	35
To the dance of the elfin crew.

O many a thrush and a blackbird
Would fall to the dewy ground,
And pine away in silence
For envy of such a sound.	40

So the night through
In our sad pleasure,
We dance to many a measure,
That earth never knew.