Eastward in Eireann lay the Lough of Rory.
The Moon, like some pale huntress, landward led
Her white-toothed hounds betwixt the promontory
And its far twin. Thither King Fergus sped
Within his chariot. High his shaggy head
Clove thro’ the dusky clouds his chargers made;
And o’er his shoulders, far behind him, spread
Loose locks, and circling cloak, in which arrayed
He, with benignant arm, Ultonia’s sceptre swayed.
II.
Beside him stood his suremost charioteer,
(Muëna, faithful bondsman of his lord,
Favoured in form, and swift of eye and ear),
Urging with well-skilled hand and timely word
The flying steeds. The seaward-soaring bird
Seemed fixed in Heaven, so swift they sped: the day
Lumbered behind, as high the sand they stirred,
And echoes of their wheels that edged the spray
Rolled thro’ the silent hills like thunder far away!
III.
Onward they whirled. The billows on the beach
Drew backward in amaze, then, bolder grown,
Sprang forward to the chase, but far from reach
The phantom bounded on o’er sand and stone;
Till the low clouds that late-born winds had blown
About the hills, upon the chariot’s flight
Drew down their brows; or was it they had flown
Thro’ dalliant day into a former night
That now, with jealous hand, hid shore and sea from sight?
IV.
Then when the day had rallied all its forces,—
A splash of glory in a murky west,—
Obedient, where it pleased (like men), the horses
Slackened their speed, and paused, and stood at rest.
“Thus far, O King! fulfilled is thy behest,”
Muëna said. To whom the King: “To thee
And me ’twere Heaven in Night’s soft arms carest
To sleep.”—They slept.—Without, that smith, the sea,
On adamantine anvils shaped new shores to be.
V.
Who knoweth not the spell that lurks in twilight?—
When mystic murmurs float across the world
From strange, vague forms that hate the brazen highlight
Of day, and sleep in hidden corners curled
Till, westward, day has nigh his banner furled.
Then fare they forth: rich spoil, in sooth, they found
Where Fergus had his mighty figure hurled
Upon the chariot’s floor. They drew around,
Plucked from its sheath his sword, and bore him to the ground,