Classic Poem

AIR — The gentle Maiden .

I.

Why sits the gentle maiden there,
While surfing billows splash around?
Why doth she southwards wildly stare,
And sing, with such a fearful sound —
" The Wild Geese fly where others walk;
The Wild Geese do what others talk —
The way is long from France, you know —
He'll come at last when south winds blow. "

II.

Oh! softly was the maiden nurst
In Castle Connell's lordly towers,
Where Skellig's billows boil and burst,
And, far above, Dunkerron towers:
And she was noble as the hill —
Yet battle-flags are nobler still:
And she was graceful as the wave —
Yet who would live a tranquil slave?

III.

And, so, her lover went to France,
To serve the foe of Ireland's foe;
Yet deep he swore — " Whatever chance,
" I'll come some day when south winds blow. "
And prouder hopes he told beside,
How she should be a prince's bride,
How Louis would the Wild Geese send,
And Ireland's weary woes should end.

IV.

But tyrants quenched her father's hearth,
And wrong and absence warped her mind;
The gentle maid, of gentle birth,
Is moaning madly to the wind —
" He said he'd come, whate'er betide:
He said I'd be a happy bride:
Oh! long the way and hard the foe —
He'll come when south — when south winds blow! "