Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DEATH DANCE, by WILLIAM SHARP


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DEATH DANCE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O arone a-ree, eily arone, arone!
Last Line: O, o, arone, a-ree, eily arone!
Alternate Author Name(s): Macleod, Fiona
Subject(s): Death; Happiness; Love Affairs; Sailing & Sailors; Dead, The; Joy; Delight


O arone a-ree, eily arone, arone!
'Tis a good thing to be sailing across the seas!
How the women smile and the children are laughing glad
When the galleys go out into the blue sea—arone!
O eily arone, arone!

But the children may laugh less when the wolves come,
And the women may smile less in the winter-cold—
For the Summer-sailors will not come again, arone!
O arone a-ree, eily arone, arone!

I am thinking they will not sail back again, O no!
The yellow-haired men that came sailing across the sea:
For 'tis wild apples they would be, and swing on green branches,
And sway in the wind for the corbies to preen their eyne,
O eily arone, eily a-ree!

And it is pleasure for Scathach the Queen to see this:
To see the good fruit that grows on the Tree of the Stones:
Long black fruit it is, wind-swayed by its yellow roots,
And like men they are with their feet dancing in the void air!
O, O, arone, a-ree, eily arone!

O arone, a-ree, eily arone, arone,
O, O, arone, a-ree, eily arone!





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