Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SWANS' LAMENT FOR THE DESOLATION OF LIR, by JOHN TODHUNTER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SWANS' LAMENT FOR THE DESOLATION OF LIR, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: A lost dream to us now is our home
Last Line: A lost dream to us now is our home!
Subject(s): Birds; Grief; Swans; Sorrow; Sadness


A LOST dream to us now is our home,
Ullagone! Ochone-a-rie!
Gall to our heart! Oh, gall to our heart!
Ullagone! Ochone-a-rie!

A hearthless home, without fire, without joy,
Without a harp, without a hound!
No talk, no laughter, no sound of song,
Ullagone for the halls of Lir!

Where now are the prosperous kings?
Where are the women? Where is the love?
The kiss of welcome warm on our cheeks?
The loving tongue of hounds on our hands?

Oh! the greatness of our mishap!
Oh! the length of our evil day!
Bitter to toss between sea and sea,
But worse the taste of a loveless home.

Children we left it, swans we return.
To a strange place, strangers. None lives to say:
'These are the Children of Lir.' A dream,
In a dream forgotten are we this night!

Is this the place of music we knew,
Where howls the wolf through the halls of Lir?
Where mirth in the drinking-horn was born,
Chill falls the rain on the hearth of Lir.

Ullagone! Ochone-a-rie!
Gall to our hearts is that sight to-night
Ullagone! Ochone-a-rie!
A lost dream to us now is our home!





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