And O, she stepped with such a gait, And bore her round black head so high, And tossed it so, I knew her straight For Sile of the Silver Eye.

"G.o.d save you, Sile, love," says I: "G.o.d save you kindly," murmured she-- And love was welling in her eye As she dropped me the courtesy.

The mountain boys upon the road Were at themselves for jealousy When they saw Seamus win the nod From Sile of the Silver Eye.

We rode together to the fair, We danced together on the green; And, faith, they say a suppler pair Was ne'er before a piper seen.

Black Sile of the Silver Eye Has been my wife for twenty year, And still her sloe-black head is high, And still her eye is silver clear.

And, G.o.d be praised, we have a girl, As like her as like well can be-- The round black head, the roguish curl, The soft tongue and the silver eye.

G.o.d bless the old, G.o.d bless the new, And send them stout posterity-- Old Sile and young Sile, too-- Both "Sile of the Silver Eye!"

A SHEEPDOG BARKS ON THE MOUNTAIN

A sheepdog barks on the mountain, The night is fallen cold; The shepherd blinks at his fire, The sheep are in the fold.

The moon comes white and quiet Into the winter sky; And nothing walks the valley To-night but you and I.

DEAD OAKLEAVES EVERYWHERE

Dead oakleaves everywhere Under my feet, Filling the forest air With odours sweet.

Acorns, three, four and five, Falling apace.

Thank G.o.d I am alive This day of grace!

A NIGHT PRAYER

Pray for me, Seachnal, Pray for me, Mel: Save me from sin And the cold stone of h.e.l.l!

Brigid and Ita And Eithne the Red, Spread out your mantles And cover my bed!

For rann and gospel Have gone from my mind, And devils are walking Abroad in the wind!

I AM THE MOUNTAINY SINGER

I am the mountainy singer, And I would sing of the Christ Who followed the paths thro' the mountains To eat at the people's tryst.

He loved the sun-dark people As the young man loves his bride, And he moved among their thatches, And for them he was crucified.

And the people loved him, also, More than their houses or lands, For they had known his pity And felt the touch of his hands.

And they dreamed with him in the mountains, And they walked with him on the sea, And they prayed with him in the garden, And bled with him on the tree.

Not ever by longing and dreaming May they come to him now, But by the thorns of sorrow That bruised his kingly brow.

THE RAINBOW SPANNING A PLANET SHOWER

The rainbow spanning a planet shower, The sloe in berry, the flax in flower.

The scholar's satchel, the beggar's staff, The ploughman's whistle, the tinker's laugh.

The stranded hooker, the breaking wave, The sunrise gilding the carn of Medb.

The strength of mountains, the swiftness of wind Blowing over the leagues behind.

The hot lips sealing the spoken word, The song in gentle places heard.

The wildgoose trumpeting in the blue, The postcar stuck in a drift of snow.

The bogslide moving, the seaward leap, The cry, the townland whelmed in sleep.

The sock on the anvil, the thread in the loom, The Host on the altar, the child in the womb.

The wayside murder, the whispered name, The hanging body, the hidden shame.

And more--if you but listen and look-- In this, my elemental book!

I WILL GO WITH MY FATHER A-PLOUGHING

I will go with my father a-ploughing To the green field by the sea, And the rooks and the crows and the seagulls Will come flocking after me.

I will sing to the patient horses With the lark in the white of the air, And my father will sing the plough-song That blesses the cleaving share.

I will go with my father a-sowing To the red field by the sea, And the rooks and the gulls and the starlings Will come flocking after me.

I will sing to the striding sowers With the finch on the greening sloe, And my father will sing the seed-song That only the wise men know.