Day: March 17, 2014

POEMS BY DENIS FLORENCE MAC CARTHY

DUBLIN. M. H. GILL AND SON, 50 UPPER SACKVILLE STREET

1882

(excerpt Ara of the Saints)

Westward of Arran as I sailed away;
  I saw the fairest sight eye can behold--
Rocks which, illumined by the morning's ray,
  Seemed like a glorious city built of gold.
Men moved along each sunny shining street,
  Fires seemed to blaze, and curling smoke to rise,
When lo! the city vanished, and a fleet,
  With snowy sails, rose on my ravished eyes.

Thus having sought for knowledge and for strength,
  For the unheard-of voyage that I planned,
I left these myriad isles, and turned at length
  Southward my bark, and sought my native land.
There made I all things ready, day by day,
  The wicker-boat, with ox-skins covered o'er--
Chose the good monks companions of my way,
  And waited for the wind to leave the shore.