'HEARD'ST thou over the Fortress wild geese flying and crying ? Was it a gray wolf's howl ? wind in the forest sighing ? Wail from the sea as of wreck ? Hast heard it, Comrade ? ''Not So. Here, all's still as the grave, above, around, and below. 'The Warriors lie in battalion, spear and shield beside them, Tranquil, whatever lot in the coming fray shall betide them. See, where he rests, the Glory of Erin, our Kingly Youth! Closed his lion's eyes, and in sleep a smile on his mouth. ' 'The cry, the dreadful cry! I know it-louder and nearer, Circling our Dun-the Ban-shee! -my heart is frozen to hear her! Saw you not in the darkness a spectral glimmer of white Flitting away ?-I saw it! -evil her message to-night. ', Constant, but never welcome, she, to the line of our Chief; Bodeful, baleful, fateful, voice of terror and grief. Dimly burneth the lamp---hush! again that horrible cry! - If a thousand lives could save thee, Tierna, thou shouldest not die . 'Now! what whisper ye, Clansmen ? I wake. Be your words of me ? Wherefore gaze on each other ? I too have heard the Ban- shee. Death is her message: but ye, be silent. Death comes to no man Sweet as to him who in fighting crushes his country's foeman. Streak of dawn in the sky-morning of battle. The Stranger Camps on our salt- sea strand below, and recks not his danger. Victory!-that was my dream: one that shall fill men's ears In story and song of harp after a thousand years. Give me my helmet and sword. Whale- tusk, gold-wrought, I clutch thee! Blade, Flesh- Biter, fail me not this time! Yea, when I touch thee, Shivers ofjoy run through me. Sing aloud as I swing thee! Glut of enemies' blood, meseemeth, to-day shall bring thee. 'Sound the horn! Behold, the Sun is beginning to rise. Whoso seeth him set, ours is the victor's prize, When the foam along the sand shall no longer be white but red- Spoils and a mighty feast for the Living, a carn for the Dead.' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AND SO, I THINK DIOGENES by AMY LOWELL THE DELICACIES by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS INVERSNAID by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS |