Sleep a little O Diarmid, Diarmid,
Sleep in the deep lone cave;
Sleep a little—a little little,
Love whom my love I gave—
Wearily falls O Diarmid, Diarmid,
Wearily falls the wave.
Sleep a little, O Diarmid, Diarmid,
Sleep, and have never a fear;
Sleep a little—a little little,
Love whom I love so dear—
A weary wind, O Diarmid, Diarmid,
A weary wind I hear.
Sleep a little, O Diarmid, Diarmid,
Sleep, while I watch till you wake;
Sleep a little—a little little,
Love whom I'll ne'er forsake—
Sleep a little, and blessings on you
My lamb, or my heart will break.
SONG OF THE SEA.
The sea sings loud, the sea sings low,
And sweet is the chime of its ebb and flow
Over the shingly strand;
For its strange, sweet song that woos my ear
The first man heard, as the last shall hear—
Seeking to understand …
THE DEATH OF CUCHULLIN.
Now when the last hour of his life drew nigh,
Cuchullin woke from dreams forewarning death;
And cold and awesome came the night-bird's cry—
An evil omen the magician saith—
A low gust panted like a man's last breath,
As morning crept into the chamber black;
Then all his weapons clashed and tumbled from the rack.
For the last time his evil foemen came;
The sons of Calatin by Lugaid led.
The land lay smouldering with smoke and flame;
The duns were fallen and the fords ran red;
And widows fled, lamenting for their dead,
To fair Emania on that fateful day,
Where all forsworn with fighting great Cuchullin lay.
Levarchan, whom he loved, a maid most fair,
Rose-lipp'd, with yellow hair and sea-grey eyes,
The evil tidings to Cuchullin bare.
And, trembling in her beauty, bade him rise;
Niamh, brave Conal's queen, the old, the wise,
Urged him with clamour of the land's alarms,
And, stirr'd with vengeful might, the hero sprang to arms.
His purple mantle o'er his shoulders wide
In haste he flung, and tow'ring o'er them stood
All scarr'd and terrible in battle pride—
His brooch, that clasp'd his mantle and his hood
Then fell his foot to pierce, and his red blood
Follow'd, like fate, behind him as he stepp'd
Levarchan shriek'd, and Niamh moaned his doom and wept