Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SONG OF AEIFA by WILLIAM SHARP

First Line: SPEED HENCE, SPEED HENCE, O LONE WHITE SWANS
Last Line: AT THE RINGING OF CHRIST'S BELL.
Subject(s): BELLS; BIRDS; DEATH; JESUS CHRIST; MYTHOLOGY - CELTIC; SWANS; DEAD, THE;
Speed hence, speed hence, O lone white swans,
Across the wind-sprent foam;
The wave shall be your father now,
And the wind alone shall kiss your brow,
And the waste be your home.

Speed hence, speed hence, O lone white swans,
Your age-long quest to make;
Three hundred years on Moyle's wild breast,
Three hundred years on the wilder west,
Three hundred years on this lake.

Speed hence, speed hence, O lone white swans,
And Lir shall call in vain
For all his aching heart and tears,
For all the weariness of his years,
Ye shall not come again.

Speed hence, speed hence, O lone white swans,
Till the ringing of Christ's bell;
Then at the last ye shall have rest,
And Death shall take ye to his breast
At the ringing of Christ's bell.



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