Shamrocks - 1887 Author:Katharine Tynan Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE STORY OF AIBHRIC. "And at last it happened to them (the swans) that they met a young man whose name was Aibhric, and his attention was attracted to them, ... more »and their singing was sweet to him, so that he loved, them greatly, and they loved him."—The Fate of the Children of Lir. Five and twenty years of my life were fair, Five and twenty years ; The red gold-dust lay thick on my beard and hair, Mine eyes were keener than spears, And blue as the skies, and I was comely and tall, The son of a king, First in battle, in hunting, in bower and hall (Hark ! how the wild swans sing !) Five and twenty years, and my day was at morn, My life at its June; Oh, the desolate gloaming, dark and forlorn, Wet skies and a waning moon 1 When I rode down through the reeds by the riverbed, Weary and faint were we— The good steed stumbling and hanging the noble head, The hounds going heavily. We had been hunting since out in the eastern skies The dawn fires began ; The stag was king of the herd—he was fearless and wise, Thrice the age of a man. We followed by hill, and we followed by forest and brake, With many a bugle-blast; And twice he swam through a river and breasted a lake, While we followed fast. But now, at the eve, none answered my bugle's call; Lord and lady were gone Back to the lighted board in the palace hall— I was riding alone: The stag had vanished;—a long, gold gleam in the west The grey pools mirrored all chill, And the shrieking water-fowl flew up from the nest, The wind in the reeds sobbed shrill. Dreary, dreary seemed the place and strange, The moon was barred with the drifts, And great cloud-mountains rose stormily, range after range, And broke into rifts ; An eagle sailed overhead with a ...« less