The Fairy Child
by Lord Dunsanay
From the
low white walls and the church's steeple,
From our little fields under grass or grain,
I'm
gone away to the fairy people
I shall not come to the town again.
You
may see a girl with my face and tresses,
You may see one come to my mother's door
Who
may speak my words and may wear my dresses.
She will not be I, for I come no more.
I am
gone, gone far, with the fairies roaming,
You may ask of me where the herons are
In
the open marsh when the snipe are homing,
Or when no moon lights nor a single star.
On
stormy nights when the streams are foaming
And a hint may come of my haunts afar,
With
the reeds my floor and my roof the gloaming,
But I come no more to Ballynar.
Ask
Father Ryan to read no verses
To call me back, for I am this day
From
blessings far, and beyond curses.
No heaven shines where we ride away.
At
speed unthought of in all your stables,
With the gods of old and the sons of Finn,
With
the queens that reigned in the olden fables
And kings that won what a sword can win.
You
may hear us streaming above your gables
On nights as still as a planet's spin;
But
never stir from your chairs and tables
To call my name. I shall not come in.
For
I am gone to the fairy people.
Make the most of that other child
Who
prays with you by the village steeple
I am gone away to the woods and wild.
I am
gone away to the open spaces,
And whither riding no man may tell;
But
I shall look upon all your faces
No more in Heaven or Earth or Hell.