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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE LOVE-TALKER, by ANNA JOHNSTON MACMANUS Poet's Biography First Line: I met the love-talker one eve in the glen Last Line: Pray for the soul of maire og at dawning of the day! Alternate Author Name(s): Carbery, Ethna Subject(s): Love | |||
I met the Love-Talker one eve in the glen, He was handsomer than any of our handsome young men, His eyes were blacker than the sloe, his voice sweeter far Than the crooning of old Kevin's pipes beyond in Coolnagar. I was bound for the milking with a heart fair and free-- My grief! my grief! that bitter hour drained the life from me; I thought him human lover, though his lips on mine were cold, And the breath of death blew keen on me within his hold. I know not what way he came, no shadow fell behind, But all the sighing rushes swayed beneath a faery wind, The thrush ceased its singing, a mist crept about, We two clung together--with the world shut out Beyond the ghostly mist I could hear my cattle low, The little cow from Ballina, clean as driven snow, The dun cow from Kerry, the roan from Inisheer, Oh, pitiful their calling--and his whispers in my ear! His eyes were a fire; his words were a snare; I cried my mother's name, but no help was there; I made the blessed Sign; then he gave a dreary moan, A wiso of cloud went floating by, and I stood alone. Running ever through my head, is an old-time rune-- "Who meets the Love-Talker must weave her shroud soon." My mother's face is furrowed with the salt tears that fall, But the kind eyes of my father are the saddest sight of all I have spun the fleecy lint, and now my wheel is still, The linen length is woven for my shroud fine and chill, I shall stretch me on the bed where a happy maid I lay-- Pray for the soul of Maire Og at dawning of the day! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE INVENTION OF LOVE by MATTHEA HARVEY TWO VIEWS OF BUSON by ROBERT HASS A LOVE FOR FOUR VOICES: HOMAGE TO FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN by ANTHONY HECHT AN OFFERING FOR PATRICIA by ANTHONY HECHT LATE AFTERNOON: THE ONSLAUGHT OF LOVE by ANTHONY HECHT A SWEETENING ALL AROUND ME AS IT FALLS by JANE HIRSHFIELD FEITHFAILGE by ANNA JOHNSTON MACMANUS HILLS O' MY HEART by ANNA JOHNSTON MACMANUS MO CRAOIBHIN CNO (MY CLUSTER OF NUTS - MY BROWN-HAIRED GIRL) by ANNA JOHNSTON MACMANUS |
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