The Passing of the Shee
Nora Hopper Chesson
1871 to 1906
And did you meet them riding down
A mile away from Galway town?
Wise childish eyes of Irish gray,
You must have seen them, too, to-day.
And did you hear wild music blow
All down the boreen, long and low,
The tramp of ragweed-horses' feet,
And Una's laughter, wild and sweet?
Oh, once I met them riding down
A hillside far from Galway town:
But not alone I walked that day
To hear the fairy pipers play —
They lighted down, the kindly Shee,
They builded palace-walls for me —
They built me bower, they built me bawn,
Ganconagh, Banshee, Leprechaun.
They builded me a chamber fair,
Roofed in with music, walled with air,
And in its garden, fair to sight,
Grew wallflowers, windflowers, brown and white.
Bouchaleen bwee, if you should see
One riding with the happy Shee
One with blue eyes and yellow hair,
Less light of heart than many there-
Ah, tell him that I'm seeking still
Our fairy hold by fairy hill —
Following the fairy pipes that play
Over the hills and far away.
Nora Hopper Chesson's The Passing of the Shee
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- Multiple revisions to ensure the arrangement honors the poet's original vision
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