IN a field by Cahirconlish I stood on sleeping grass, No cry I made to Heaven From my dumb lips would pass. Three days, three nights I slumbered, And till I woke again Those I have loved have sought me, And sorrowed all in vain. My neighbours still upbraid me, And murmur as I pass, "There goes a man enchanted. He trod on fairy grass." My little ones around me, They claim my old caress, I push them roughly from me With hands that cannot bless. My wife upon my shoulder A bitter tear lets fall, I turn away in anger And love her not at all. For like a man surrounded, In some sun-haunted lane, By countless wings that follow, A grey and stinging chain, Around my head for ever I hear small voices speak In tongues I cannot follow, I know not what they seek. I raise my hands to find them When autumn winds go by, And see between my fingers A broken summer fly. I raise my hands to hold them When winter days are near, And clasp a falling snowflake That breaks into a tear. And ever follows laughter That echoes through my heart, From some delights forgotten Where once I had a part. What love comes, half-remembered, In half-forgotten bliss? Who lay upon my bosom, And had no human kiss? Where is the land I loved in? What music did I sing That left my ears enchanted Inside the fairy ring? I see my neighbours shudder, And whisper as I pass: "Three nights the fairies stole him; He trod on sleeping grass." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE HAWK by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS NUPTIAL ODE ON THE MARRIAGE OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN THE HUNTER'S SONG by WILLIAM BASSE NEW YORK CITY by MAXWELL BODENHEIM THE COLLEGE GARDEN; IN 1917 by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES |