Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WHEN SOUTH WINDS BLOW, by THOMAS OSBORNE DAVIS


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WHEN SOUTH WINDS BLOW, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Why sits the gentle maiden there
Last Line: "he'll come when south -- when south winds blow!"
Subject(s): Skellig, Ireland


WHY sits the gentle maiden there,
While surfing billows splash around?
Why doth she southwards wildly stare,
And sing, with such a fearful sound, --
"The Wild Geese fly where others walk;
The Wild Geese do what others talk;
The way is long from France, you know, --
He'll come at last when south winds blow."

O, softly was the maiden nurst
In Castle Connell's lordly bowers,
Where Skellig's billows boil and burst,
And, far above, Dunkerron towers:
And she was noble as the hill, --
Yet battle-flags are nobler still;
And she was graceful as the wave,
Yet who would live a tranquil slave?

And, so, her lover went to France,
To serve the foe of Ireland's foe;
Yet deep he swore, "Whatever chance,
I'll come some day when south winds blow."
And prouder hopes he told beside,
How she should be a prince's bride,
How Louis would the Wild Geese send,
And Ireland's weary woes should end.

But tyrants quenched her father's hearth,
And wrong and absence warped her mind;
The gentle maid, of gentle birth,
Is moaning madly to the wind, --
"He said he'd come, whate'er betide;
He said I'd be a happy bride:
O, long the way and hard the foe, --
He'll come when south -- when south winds blow!"





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