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COIRE DUBH LINN, by                    
First Line: The voices of the curlew cryingon the air
Last Line: Brimming above the sides into the light.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ireland, Michael


The voices of the curlew crying on the air
Floated about the silence of the hills.
The brooding visage of the mountains bare
Seemed the mute passion of a thousand wills.

From the black waters of the dizzy pool
Cupped in the rocky sharpness of their sides,
Enchantments curled up to their foreheads cool.
Like a large gesture that reveals and hides.

Then thro' the tangled network of my mind
I sank, as down a steep and endless well;
A sudden darkness and a rushing wind
And a sharp terror caught me as I fell.

So I saw God: as like a man may see
The Spectral Beauty and be living still,
His snowy hair flowed thro' eternity,
And His quick eyes searched out my secret will.

Then shining rainbows hid Him wholly up.
But a large peace had filled me at the sight:
Like crystal waters in a golden cup,
Brimming above the sides into the light.





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