Ceol-Sidhe
Nora Hopper Chesson
1871 to 1906
There never was any music
In the golden throat of a bird,
More fine and clear than the piping
That in dreams I heard
Cry through the Heart Lake's rushes,
And falter and fade away,
Like odours of thyme one crushes
In the heat of the day.
There never was any piping
So sweet and tender and gay,
It came like the wind, and lightly
It blew away —
It laughed and it grew not weary,
It sighed and was sweeter yet,
It sang for the hope of Eri
And her heavy fret.
There never was any piping
So merry and none so sad,
For it sang of a far green island
Where, scarlet-clad,
All under the druid quicken,
Wild dancers gather and go,
And under the oaks, unstricken,
Feeds Saav, the doe.
And when silence took the piping,
"It's O to be there," I cried,
"To dance with no thought of grieving
For joy that died —
To dance, and be never weary
For night or day,
With the kindliest folk of Eri
Till the dew's away.
Sweet, sweet is the twilight dancing,
Not sweet is the homespun day."
But the dawn through the rushes glancing
Drove my dream away.
Nora Hopper Chesson's Ceol-Sidhe
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- Multiple revisions to ensure the arrangement honors the poet's original vision
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