Girls Spinning

2nd Girl

Mallo lero iss im bo nero!

55

Him with the strong hand I will bring from the

clover.

Mallo lero iss im bo baun!

Ist Girl

Mallo lero iss im bo nero!

I wait till I hear what he's singing over.
Mallo lero iss im bo baun!

Another man's voice:

Are they not the good men of Eirinn,
Who give not their thought nor their voice
To fortune, but take without dowry

The maids of their choice?

For the trout has sport in the river,
Whether prices be up or low-down,

And the salmon, he slips through the water,
Not heeding the town!

Then if she, the love of my bosom,

Did laugh as she stood by my door,

O I'd rise then and draw her in to me,
With kisses go leor!

It's not likely the wind in the tree-tops
Would trouble my love nor my rest,
Nor the hurrying footsteps would draw her,
My love from my breast!

1st Girl

Mallo lero iss im bo nero!

He sings to the girsha in the hazel-wood cover. Mallo lero iss im bo baun!

Mallo lero iss im bo nero!

Go where they're shearing and find me my lover. Mallo lero iss im bo baun!

and Girl

Mallo lero iss im bo nero!

The newly-come youth is looking straight over! Mallo lero iss im bo baun!

Ist Girl

Mallo lero iss im bo nero!

Mind what he sings, and I'll give you trover! Mallo lero iss im bo baun!

A young man's voice sings:

Once I went over the Ocean,

On a ship that was bound for proud Spain:
Some people were singing and dancing,
But I had a heart full of pain.

I'll put now a sail on the lake

That's between my treasure and me,

And I'll sail over the lake

Till I come to the Joyce Country.

Girls Spinning

She'll hear my boat on the shingles,
And she'll hear my step on the land,
And the corncrake hid in the meadow
Will tell her that I'm at hand!

The Summer comes to Glen Nefin
With heavy dew on the leas,
With the gathering of wild honey
To the tops of all the trees;

In honey and dew the Summer
Upon the ground is shed,

And the cuckoo cries until dark
Where my storeen has her bed!

And if O'Hanlon's daughter
Will give me a welcome kind,
O never will my sail be turned
To a harsh and a heavy wind!

Ist Girl

Mallo lero iss im bo nero!

Welcome I'll give him over and over.

Mallo lero iss im bo baun!

2nd Girl

Mallo lero iss im bo nero!

57

Go where they're threshing and find me my

lover.

Mallo lero iss im bo baun!

DERMOTT DONN MACMORNA

ONE day you'll come to my husband's door,
Dermott Donn MacMorna,

One day you'll come to Hugh's dark door,
And the pain at my heart will be no more,
Dermott Donn MacMorna!

From his bed, from his fire, I'll rise,
Dermott Donn MacMorna,

From the bed of Hugh, from his fire I'll rise,
With my laugh for the pious, the quiet, the wise,
Dermott Donn MacMorna!

Lonesome, lonesome, the house of Hugh,
Dermott Donn MacMorna,

No cradle rocks in the house of Hugh;
The list'ning fire has thought of you,
Dermott Donn MacMorna!

Out of this loneliness we will go,
Dermott Donn MacMorna,

Together at last, we two will go

Down a darkening road with a gleam below.
Ah, but the winds do bitter blow,

Dermott Donn MacMorna!

A POOR SCHOLAR OF THE FORTIES

My eyelids red and heavy are,
With bending o'er the smold'ring peat.
I know the Æneid now by heart,
My Virgil read in cold and heat,
In loneliness and hunger smart.
And I know Homer, too, I ween,
As Munster poets know Ossian.

'And I must walk this road that winds
'Twixt bog and bog, while east there lies
A city with its men and books,
With treasures open to the wise,
Heart-words from equals, comrade-looks;
Down here they have but tale and song,
They talk Repeal the whole night long.

"You teach Greek verbs and Latin nouns,"
The dreamer of Young Ireland said.
"You do not hear the muffled call,
The sword being forged, the far-off tread
Of hosts to meet as Gael and Gall-

What good to us your wisdom store,
Your Latin verse, your Grecian lore?”