A SONG OF MEMORY

Here as I sit in the dark and ponder,

Watching the firelight dance and gleam,

What brings them back to my mind, I wonder?

Those old days of laughter and dream.

Dear old days, when we roamed together

All the pathways that cross Slieve Rue,

Caring for naught in the sunny weather,

Laughing together, I and you.

Voice of the west wind, calling, calling,

Sobbing beat of the Irish rain,

Whispering leaves and waters falling,

Ay, and you by my side again;

Out of the past I hear them ringing —

All the songs of the days of old;

Hear the lark on the hillside singing,

See the gleam of the gorse's gold.

Till, as I sit in the firelight dreaming,

Watching the shadows grow apace,

Out of the long dead years comes gleaming

There in the flames your laughing face;

All the days that are past and over

Gone in the turf smoke, curling blue,

And from their wreckage I recover

Song and sunshine and youth and you.