DRINK OF THIS CUP. DRINK of this cup — you'll find there's a spell in Its every drop 'gainst the ills of mortality Talk of the cordial that sparkled for Helen, Her cup was a fiction, but this is reality. Would you forget the dark world we are in, Just taste of the bubble that gleams on the top of it; But would you rise above earth, till akin To Immortals themselves, you must drain every drop of it. Send round the cup for O there's a spell in Its every drop 'gainst the ills of mortalityTalk of the cordial that sparkled for Helen, Her cup was a fiction, but this is reality. Never was philter form'd with such power To charm and bewilder as this we are quaffing; Its magic began when, in Autumn's rich hour, A harvest of gold in the fields it stood laughing. There having, by Nature's enchantment, been fill'd With the balm and the bloom of her kindliest weather, This wonderful juice from its core was distilled, gether. Then drink of the cup- you'll find there's a spell in And though, perhaps — but breathe it to no one Fill up there's a fire in some hearts I could name, Which may work too its charm, though as lawless and hidden. So drink of the cup for O, there's a spell in Its every drop 'gainst the ills of mortalityTalk of the cordial that sparkled for Helen, Her cup was a fiction, but this is reality. THE FORTUNE TELLER. DOWN in the valley come meet me to-night, As ever 'twas told, by the new-moon's light, But, for the world, let no one be nigh, If at that hour the heavens be not dim, And if to that phantom you'll be kind, You'll hardly, my dear, any difference find Down at your feet, in the pale moonlight, What other thoughts and events may arise, OH, YE DEAD. OH, ye Dead! O, ye Dead! whom we know by the light you give From your cold gleaming eyes, though you move like men who live, Why leave you thus your graves, In far-off fields and waves, Where the worm and the sea-bird only know your bed, To haunt this spot, where all Those eyes that wept your fall, And the hearts that wail'd you, like your own, lie dead? It is true, it is true, we are shadows cold and wan; And the fair and the brave whom we lov'd on earth are gone; M But still, thus ev'n in death, So sweet the living breath Of the fields and the flowers in our youth we wander'd o'er, That ere, condemn'd, we go To freeze 'mid Hecla's snow, * We would taste it awhile, and think we live once more ! O'DONOHUE'S MISTRESS. OF all the fair months that round the sun Of all the bright haunts where daylight leaves Fair Lake, thou'rt dearest to me; Who dwells, bright Lake, in thee. *Paul Zealand mentions that there is a mountain in some part of Ireland, where the ghosts of persons who have died in foreign lands walk about and converse with those they meet, like living people. If asked why they do not return to their homes, they say they are obliged to go to Mount Hecla, and disappear immediately. + The particulars of the tradition respecting O'Donohue and his White Horse may be found in Mr Weld's Account of Killarney, or Of all the proud steeds that ever bore White Steed, most joy to thee; Who still, with the first young glance of spring, While, white as the sail some bark unfurls, And spirits, from all the lake's deep bowers, Of all the sweet deaths that maidens die, Which, under the next May evening's light, more fully detailed in Derrick's Letters. For many years after his death, the spirit of this hero is supposed to have been seen on the morning of May-day, gliding over the lake on his favorite white horse, to the sound of sweet unearthly music, and preceded by groups of youths and maidens, who flung wreaths of delicate spring flowers in his path. Among other stories connected with this Legend of the Lakes it is said that there was a young and beautiful girl, whose imagination was so impressed with the idea of this visionary chieftain, that she fancied herself in love with him, and at last, in a fit of insanity, on a May morning, threw herself into the lake. * The boatmen at Killarney call those waves which come on a windy day, crested with foam, "O'Donohue's white horses." |