Anna Johnston MacManus

I know a purple moorland where a blue loch lies,
Where the lonely plover circles, and the peewit cries,
...

In the green woods of Truagh we met without fear,
Your kiss on my lips, and your voice in my ear,
...

I MIND it well, and I see it yet
In a halo of sunset glory,
When I climbed knee-deep through the gorse and fern
To keep my tryst with Rory.
...

To the Isle of Peace
I turn our prow:
No angry seas
Shall fright you now;
...

He had no crown upon his head
When first he met me by the way,
His feet upon the thorns had bled,
...

The fretted fires of Mora
Blew o'er him in the night,
He thrills no more at loving,
Nor weeps for lost delight,
...

The market place is all astir,
The sombre streets are gay,
And lo! a stately galleon
Lies anchored in the Bay–
...

I was sent adrift on the waves of the world,
Ochón! ochón!
All for the sake of the yellow-curled
Slender girl that I wished my own.
...

Dream-fair, beside dream waters, it stands alone:
A winging thought of Lugh made its corner stone:
...

Here is the road that you must climb with me,
This road that winds between the hill and sea,
And leads to where our quiet home shall be.
...

O,
Páistín Fionn
, but it vexed her sore,
The day you turned from your mother's door
...

SHIELA NÍ GARA, it is lonesome where you bide,
With the plover circling over and the sagans spreading wide,
...

What shall the year bring, fraught with omen,
What shall the core of its message be?
Tramp of battle, and bright swords flashing,
...

Beannacht leat!

I hold your hand in mine, I say
The parting words this parting day–
...

The steeds of the Black Wind race
Frost-shod and fleet,
Where you hide from my love your face,
And stay your feet:
...

Underneath the shrouding stone,
Where you lie in Death alone,
Can you hear me calling, calling,
...

Mary of Carrick has gone away
From our pleasant places, down to the sea,
She has put a loss on our mountain gray,
...

Be pitiful, my God!
No hard-won gifts I bring–
But empty, pleading hands
To Thee at evening.
...

My Black Slender Boy, as you step on your way
To the dewy-wet fields at the dawning of day;
...

A Sword of Light hath pierced the dark, our eyes have seen the Star:
Oh Eire, leave the ways of sleep now days of promise are:
...