Seumas O'Sullivan. The Others. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

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

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

Music so piercing wild
And forest-sweet would bring
Silence on blackbirds singing
Their best in the ear of spring.	20

And many a youth entrancèd
Moves slow in the dreamy round,
His brave lost feet enchanted
With the rhythm of faery sound.

Oh, many a thrush and blackbird	25
Would fall to the dewy ground,
And pine away in silence
For envy of such a sound.

So the night through,
In our sad pleasure,	30
We dance to many a measure
That earth never knew.