Clinton Scollard

Far removed from strife and war
Is the shrine of Kilmelchedor;
O’er one crumbling archway see
Clearly graven—Domine!Master then and master still,…

Oh, it ’s gray rain in the valleys,
White rain where the moorland lies,
And in from the bleak sea-borders
A gust that keens and cries.Sheep huddle in the hollows,…

Out of Ulster came O'Donnell,
Black O'Donnell and his crew,--
Kelly, More, Mac Carthy, Connell,
Joined the cry--"O'Donnell Aboo!"Woe once more, red woe for Kerry,…

When the first opal presage of morn
Quickened the east, the good Merwan arose,
And by his open tent door knelt and prayed.Now in that pilgrim caravan was one
Whose heart was heavy with dumb doubts, whose eyes…

As perfect in their symmetry as thine,
O inarticulate marble lips, were those
My love once raised to mine, yet tinged with rose
And freighted with a redolence divine.…

When May has come, and all around
The dandelions dot the ground,
Then out into the woods I go,
And take my arrows and my bow.Of hickory my bow is made,…

I set apart a day for wandering;
I heard the woodlands ring,
The hidden white-throat sing,
And the harmonic West,…

Fair Maeve, that was queen of Beauty,
Whither, whither has she gone?
Ask the cairn that over Sligo
Lifts its stones to greet the dawn!Deirdre, that was queen of Sorrow,…

Off the coast of Connemara,
Sailor, sailor, what ’s the hail?
“Dip the sail to Saint Macdara—
Dip the sail!”…

Beyond the bourns of time and sleep,
Beyond the sway of tides,
A voyager o'er death's darksome deep,
His ship at anchor rides.He who from boyhood never knew…

Oh, I am just a rover
Among the roving men
Who loves to watch the sunlight
Upon the flowering fen;Who fain would feel the heather…

The sea was mist-enwreathed at morn,
A void unspeakably forlorn;
Yet from the seeming barren gloom
Beauty, the dream of the world, was born.A sudden wafture of wind breath,…

You speak to me
Of the long plunge and welter of the sea;
Likewise you are
Oracular…

Wrapt in mist and washed with rain
Is the hill of Rahinane;
Compassed by the hosts of sleep
Is its keep.Only shadows come and go;…

Night-long I heard the poignant undertone,
The interminable sobbing of the sea;
And now that morn breaks dim and dolorously
I mark the riotous surges landward blown,…

The new moon marked the twilight hour,
A night-jar quavered eerily,
And swallows circled round the tower—
Saint Sepulchre's beside the sea.The ivy clung, the ivy climbed,…

The mist crept in from the sea
Out of the void and the vast;
And it bore the silver rain
A shimmering guest in its train,…

I wandered in the streets of Galway-town,
When night had let her dusky curtains down,
And in a doorway, tall and fair and slight,
Framed by an inner beam of golden light,…

I have dreams of the outer islands,
Firths and forths of the Far-Away;
I have dreams of the heathery highlands
Under the golden day.I have dreams of a sliding river--…

I woke in the black watches of the night
And heard the low intoning of the main,
A muffled heart-beat, an unceasing strain
Of music keyed to dolor and delight.…

Dolphins under and sea-gulls over
The surge and shift of the dipping tide,
And you, my rover, my blithe sea-rover,
Sailing the path of the undenied.In dreams I follow you, O my rover,…

II heard the bells of Sligo say
The tranquil requiem of day.I saw the fires of sunset burn
Dim in the great west's golden urn.O'er Calvary's sharp spire afar
Clear flowered one hyacinthine star.Then mother Night her children hid…

From rim to shimmering rim the sea
Is burnished like chalcedony.The waves that set their lips to land
Scarce make a murmur on the sand.The ships appear to poise between
Two voids of opalescent sheen.Aye, here eternal calm seems set…

It was Sir Frederick Hamilton's men
Were hungry for the fray,
And it was a son of the bog and fen
Would guide them on their way.By the good book an oath he took,…