Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CAILLEACH BEIN-Y-VREICH, by JOHN CAMPBELL SHAIRP Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: Weird wife of bein-y-vreich! Horo! Horo! Last Line: And the scowling-eyed seul-gorm. Subject(s): Fairies; Elves | ||||||||
WEIRD wife of Bein-y-Vreich! horo! horo! Aloft in the mist she dwells; Vreich horo! Vreich horo! Vreich horo! All alone by the lofty wells. Weird, weird wife! with the long gray locks, She follows her fleet-foot stags, Noisily moving through splinter'd rocks, And crashing the grisly crags. Tall wife, with the long gray hose! in haste The rough stony beach she walks; But dulse or seaweed she will not taste, Nor yet the green kail stalks. And I will not let my herds of deer, My bonny red deer go down; I will not let them down to the shore, To feed on the sea-shells brown. Oh, better they love in the corrie's recess, Or on mountain top to dwell, And feed by my side on the green, green cress, That grows by the lofty well. Broad Bein-y-Vreich is grisly and drear, But wherever my feet have been The well-springs start for my darling deer, And the grass grows tender and green. And there high up on the calm nights clear, Beside the lofty spring, They come to my call, and I milk them there, And a weird wild song I sing. But when hunter men round my dun deer prowl, I will not let them nigh; Through the rended cloud I cast one scowl, They faint on the heath and die. And when the north wind o'er the desert bare Drives loud, to the corries below I drive my herds down, and bield them there From the drifts of the blinding snow. Then I mount the blast, and we ride full fast, And laugh as we stride the storm, I, and the witch of the Cruachan Ben, And the scowling-eyed Seul-Gorm. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FAERY FOREST by SARA TEASDALE THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THE FAIRIES by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM THE FAIRY CHILD by JOHN ANSTER THE FORSAKEN MERMAN by MATTHEW ARNOLD THE LITTLE ELF-MAN by JOHN KENDRICK BANGS TAM O' SHANTER by ROBERT BURNS A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 19. THE FAIRY QUEEN PROSERPINA by THOMAS CAMPION A PROPER NEW BALLAD [ENTITLED THE FAIRIES' FAREWELL] by RICHARD CORBET AUTUMN IN THE HIGHLANDS; AFTER KEATS by JOHN CAMPBELL SHAIRP |
|