Padraic Colum (18811972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922. |
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14. The Stars Stand Up in the Air |
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By Thomas MacDonagh (Translated) |
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THE stars up in the air, | |
The sun and the moon are gone, | |
The strand of its waters is bare. | |
And her sway is swept from the swan. | |
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The cuckoo was calling all day, | 5 |
Hid in the branches above, | |
How my stóirín is fled away, | |
Tis my grief that I gave her my love. | |
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Three things through love I see | |
Sorrow and sin and death | 10 |
And my mind reminding me | |
That this doom I breathe with my breath. | |
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But sweeter than violin or lute | |
Is my loveand she left me behind. | |
I wish that all music were mute, | 15 |
And I to all beauty were blind. | |
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Shes more shapely than swan by the strand, | |
Shes more radiant than grass after dew, | |
Shes more fair than the stars where they stand | |
Tis my grief that her ever I knew! | 20 |
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