The Wind Among The Reeds Part 2

AEDH GIVES HIS BELOVED CERTAIN RHYMES

Fasten your hair with a golden pin, And bind up every wandering tress; I bade my heart build these poor rhymes: It worked at them, day out, day in, Building a sorrowful loveliness Out of the battles of old times.

You need but lift a pearl-pale hand, And bind up your long hair and sigh; And all men's hearts must burn and beat; And candle-like foam on the dim sand, And stars climbing the dew-dropping sky, Live but to light your pa.s.sing feet.

TO MY HEART, BIDDING IT HAVE NO FEAR

Be you still, be you still, trembling heart; Remember the wisdom out of the old days: _Him who trembles before the flame and the flood, And the winds that blow through the starry ways, Let the starry winds and the flame and the flood Cover over and hide, for he has no part With the proud, majestical mult.i.tude._

THE CAP AND BELLS

The jester walked in the garden: The garden had fallen still; He bade his soul rise upward And stand on her window-sill.

It rose in a straight blue garment, When owls began to call: It had grown wise-tongued by thinking Of a quiet and light footfall;

But the young queen would not listen; She rose in her pale night gown; She drew in the heavy cas.e.m.e.nt And pushed the latches down.

He bade his heart go to her, When the owls called out no more; In a red and quivering garment It sang to her through the door.

It had grown sweet-tongued by dreaming, Of a flutter of flower-like hair; But she took up her fan from the table And waved it off on the air.

'I have cap and bells,' he pondered, 'I will send them to her and die;'

And when the morning whitened He left them where she went by.

She laid them upon her bosom, Under a cloud of her hair, And her red lips sang them a love song: Till stars grew out of the air.

She opened her door and her window, And the heart and the soul came through, To her right hand came the red one, To her left hand came the blue.

They set up a noise like crickets, A chattering wise and sweet, And her hair was a folded flower And the quiet of love in her feet.

THE VALLEY OF THE BLACK PIG

The dews drop slowly and dreams gather: unknown spears Suddenly hurtle before my dream-awakened eyes, And then the clash of fallen hors.e.m.e.n and the cries Of unknown perishing armies beat about my ears.

We who still labour by the cromlec on the sh.o.r.e, The grey cairn on the hill, when day sinks drowned in dew, Being weary of the world's empires, bow down to you Master of the still stars and of the flaming door.

MICHAEL ROBARTES ASKS FORGIVENESS BECAUSE OF HIS MANY MOODS

If this importunate heart trouble your peace With words lighter than air, Or hopes that in mere hoping flicker and cease; Crumple the rose in your hair; And cover your lips with odorous twilight and say, 'O Hearts of wind-blown flame!

'O Winds, elder than changing of night and day, 'That murmuring and longing came, 'From marble cities loud with tabors of old 'In dove-gray faery lands; 'From battle banners fold upon purple fold, 'Queens wrought with glimmering hands; 'That saw young Niamh hover with love-lorn face 'Above the wandering tide; 'And lingered in the hidden desolate place, 'Where the last Phoenix died 'And wrapped the flames above his holy head; 'And still murmur and long: 'O Piteous Hearts, changing till change be dead 'In a tumultuous song:'

And cover the pale blossoms of your breast With your dim heavy hair, And trouble with a sigh for all things longing for rest The odorous twilight there.

AEDH TELLS OF A VALLEY FULL OF LOVERS

I dreamed that I stood in a valley, and amid sighs, For happy lovers pa.s.sed two by two where I stood; And I dreamed my lost love came stealthily out of the wood With her cloud-pale eyelids falling on dream-dimmed eyes: I cried in my dream '_O women bid the young men lay 'Their heads on your knees, and drown their eyes with your hair, 'Or remembering hers they will find no other face fair 'Till all the valleys of the world have been withered away._'

AEDH TELLS OF THE PERFECT BEAUTY

O cloud-pale eyelids, dream-dimmed eyes The poets labouring all their days To build a perfect beauty in rhyme Are overthrown by a woman's gaze And by the unlabouring brood of the skies: And therefore my heart will bow, when dew Is dropping sleep, until G.o.d burn time, Before the unlabouring stars and you.

AEDH HEARS THE CRY OF THE SEDGE

I wander by the edge Of this desolate lake Where wind cries in the sedge _Until the axle break That keeps the stars in their round And hands hurl in the deep The banners of East and West And the girdle of light is unbound, Your breast will not lie by the breast Of your beloved in sleep_.

AEDH THINKS OF THOSE WHO HAVE SPOKEN EVIL OF HIS BELOVED

Half close your eyelids, loosen your hair, And dream about the great and their pride; They have spoken against you everywhere, But weigh this song with the great and their pride; I made it out of a mouthful of air, Their children's children shall say they have lied.

THE BLESSED

c.u.mhal called out, bending his head, Till Dathi came and stood, With a blink in his eyes at the cave mouth, Between the wind and the wood.

And c.u.mhal said, bending his knees, 'I have come by the windy way 'To gather the half of your blessedness 'And learn to pray when you pray.