George William Russell

WHEN twilight flutters the mountains over, The faery lights from the earth unfold: And over the caves enchanted hover The giant heroes and gods of old. The bird of æther its flaming pinions Waves

TWILIGHT, a blossom grey in shadowy valleys dwells: Under the radiant dark the deep blue-tinted bells In quietness reГЇmage heaven within their blooms, Sapphire and gold and mystery. What strange perfumes, Out of what

THE CHILDREN were shouting together And racing along the sands, A glimmer of dancing shadows, A dovelike flutter of hands. The stars were shouting in heaven, The sun was chasing the moon: The game

A LAUGHTER in the diamond air, a music in the trembling grass; And one by one the words of light as joydrops through my being pass: “I am the sunlight in the heart, the

NOW the rooftree of the midnight spreading, Buds in citron, green, and blue: From afar its mystic odours shedding, Child, on you. Now the buried stars beneath the mountain And the vales their life

I KNOW myself no more, my child, Since thou art come to me, Pity so tender and so wild Hath wrapped my thoughts of thee. These thoughts, a fiery gentle rain, Are from the

NOT the soul that’s whitest Wakens love the sweetest: When the heart is lightest Oft the charm is fleetest. While the snow-frail maiden, Waits the time of learning, To the passion laden Turn with

NOT her own sorrow only that hath place Upon yon gentle face. Too slight have been her childhood’s years to gain The imprint of such pain. It hid behind her laughing hours, and wrought

OUT of the dusky chamber of the brain Flows the imperial will through dream on dream: The fires of life around it tempt and gleam; The lights of earth behind it fade and wane.

FAR up the dim twilight fluttered Moth-wings of vapour and flame: The lights danced over the mountains, Star after star they came. The lights grew thicker unheeded, For silent and still were we; Our

I WOKE to find my pillow wet With the tears for deeds deep hid in sleep. I knew no sorrow here, but yet The tears fell softly through the deep. Your eyes, your other

UNTO the deep the deep heart goes, It lays its sadness nigh the breast: Only the Mighty Mother knows The wounds that quiver unconfessed. It seeks a deeper silence still; It folds itself around

WHO is this unseen messenger For ever between me and her, Who brings love’s precious merchandise, The golden breath, the dew of sighs, And the wild, gentle thoughts that dwell Too fragile for the

THE TWILIGHT fleeted away in pearl on the stream, And night, like a diamond done, stood still in our dream. Your eyes like burnished stones or as stars were bright With the sudden vision

WITH eyes all untroubled she laughs as she passes, Bending beneath the creel with the seaweed brown, Till evening with pearl dew dims the shining grasses And night lit with dreamlight enfolds the sleepy

NOT unremembering we pass our exile from the starry ways: One timeless hour in time we caught from the long night of endless days. With solemn gaiety the stars danced far withdrawn on elfin

WE turned back mad from the mystic mountains, All foamed with red and with elfin gold: Up from the heart of the twilight’s fountains The fires enchanted were starward rolled. We turned back mad:

TWILIGHT, a timid fawn, went glimmering by, And Night, the dark-blue hunter, followed fast, Ceaseless pursuit and flight were in the sky, But the long chase had ceased for us at last. We watched

HE bent above: so still her breath What air she breathed he could not say, Whether in worlds of life or death: So softly ebbed away, away, The life that had been light to

ON the twilight-burnished hills I lie and long and gaze Where below the grey-lipped sands drink in the flowing tides, Drink, and fade and disappear: interpreting their ways A seer in my heart abides.

A MAN went forth one day at eve: The long day’s toil for him was done: The eye that scanned the page could leave Its task until tomorrow’s sun. Upon the threshold where he

DREAM faces bloom around your face Like flowers upon one stem; The heart of many a vanished race Sighs as I look on them. The sun rich face of Egypt glows, The eyes of

THEY bathed in the fire-flooded fountains: Life girdled them round and about: They slept in the clefts of the mountains: The stars called them forth with a shout. They prayed, but their worship was

DARK glowed the vales of amethyst Beneath an opal shroud: The moon bud opened through the mist Its white-fire leaves of cloud. Through rapt at gaze with eyes of light Looked forth the seraph

IT was the fairy of the place, Moving within a little light, Who touched with dim and shadowy grace The conflict at its fever height. It seemed to whisper “Quietness,” Then quietly itself was

DUSK, a pearl-grey river, o’er Hill and vale puts out the day- What do you wonder at, asthore, What’s away in yonder grey? Dark the eyes that linger long- Dream-fed heart, awake, come in,

DO you not feel the white glow in your breast, my bird? That is the flame of love I send to you from afar: Not a wafted kiss, hardly a whispered word, But love

OH, if my spirit may foretell Or earlier impart, It is because I always dwell With morning in my heart. I feel the keen embrace of light Ere dawning on the view It sprays

THEY tell me that the earth is still the same Although the Red Branch now is but a name, That yonder peasant lifting up his eyes Can see the marvel of the morning rise,

WHEN mine hour is come Let no teardrop fall And no darkness hover Round me where I lie. Let the vastness call One who was its lover, Let me breathe the sky. Where the

STILL rests the heavy share on the dark soil: Upon the black mould thick the dew-damp lies: The horse waits patient: from his lowly toil The ploughboy to the morning lifts his eyes. The

THEY call us aliens, we are told, Because our wayward visions stray From that dim banner they unfold, The dreams of worn-out yesterday. The sum of all the past is theirs, The creeds, the

WHERE we sat at dawn together, while the star-rich heavens shifted, We were weaving dreams in silence, suddenly the veil was lifted. By a hand of fire awakened, in a moment caught and led

ONE thing in all things have I seen: One thought has haunted earth and air: Clangour and silence both have been Its palace chambers. Everywhere I saw the mystic vision flow And live in

OVER all the dream-built margin, flushed with grey and hoary light, Glint the bubble planets tossing in the dead black sea of night. Immemorial face, how many faces look from out thy skies, Now

OH, be not led away, Lured by the colour of the sun-rich day. The gay romance of song Unto the spirit life doth not belong: Though far-between the hours In which the Master of

WHEN for love it was fain of The wild heart was chidden, When the white limbs were clothed And the beauty was hidden; For the scorn that was done to The least of her

SHADOWWHO art thou, O Glory, In flame from the deep Where stars chant their story; Why trouble my sleep? I hardly had rested; My dreams wither now. Why comest thou crested And gemmed on

I WHO had sought afar from earth The faery land to meet, Now find content within its girth And wonder nigh my feet. To-day a nearer love I choose And seek no distant sphere;

THE WINDS, the stars, and the skies though wrought By the heavenly King yet know it not; And man who moves in the twilight dim Feels not the love that encircles him, Though in

WHAT of all the will to do? It has vanished long ago, For a dream-shaft pierced it through From the Unknown Archer’s bow. What of all the soul to think? Some one offered it

O HOLY SPIRIT of the Hazel, hearken now: Though shining suns and silver moons burn on the bough, And though the fruit of stars by many myriads gleam, Yet in the undergrowth below, still

DOES the earth grow grey with grief For her hero darling fled? Though her vales let fall no leaf, In our hearts her tears are shed. Still the stars laugh on above: Not to

IN summer time, with high imaginings Of proud Crusaders and of Paynim kings, The children crowned themselves with famous names, And fought there, building up their merry games, Their mimic war, from old majestic

THE WONDER of the world is o’er: The magic from the sea is gone: There is no unimagined shore, No islet yet to venture on. The Sacred Hazels’ blooms are shed, The Nuts of

STILL as the holy of holies breathes the vast, Within its crystal depths the stars grow dim; Fire on the altar of the hills at last Burns on the shadowy rim. Moment that holds

WE air tired who follow after Phantasy and truth that flies: You with only look and laughter Stain our hearts with richest dyes. When you break upon our study Vanish all our frosty cares;

WHERE are now the dreams divine, Fires that lit the dawning soul, As the ruddy colours shine Through an opal aureole? Moving in a joyous trance, We were like the forest glooms Rumorous of

THE HEAVENS lay hold on us: the starry rays Fondle with flickering fingers brow and eyes: A new enchantment lights the ancient skies. What is it looks between us gaze on gaze; Does the

POOR little child, my pretty boy, Why did the hunter mark thee out? Wert thou betrayed by thine own joy? Singled through childhood’s merry shout? And who on such a gentle thing Let slip