In praise of "Stolen Child"

 There's something about classic poetry that gushes and coils through the brain. It's unforgettable. I've been learning celtic songs  written from the poetry of William ButlerYeats . Now I find myself reading his works, immersing myself in  that celtic imagery. SO beautiful. This poem was set to music by Loreena McKennitt in 1985.  It paints a haunting picture of a child being stolen by the faeries....well worth a listen.Well worth a read. Again and again.

 STOLEN CHILD ( 1889)  by William Butler Yeats:  Where dips the rocky highland of Sleuth Wood in the lake, there lies a leafy island where flapping herons wake.

 The drowsy water rats; there we've hid our faery vats, full of berries and of reddest stolen cherries. Come away, o human child" To the waters and the wild, with a faery , hand in hand. For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

 Where the wave of moonlight glosses the dim gray sands with light,Far off by farthest Rosses we foot it all the night.

 Weaving olden dances, mingling hands and mingling glances, Till the moon has taken flight;

 To and fro we leap and chase the frothy bubbles, while the world is full of troubles and is anxious in its sleep.

 Come away, O  human child! To the waters of the wild

 With a faery hand in hand, for the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

 Where the wandering water gushes from the hills above Glen-Car,

 In pools among the rushes that scarce could bathe a star,

 We seek for slumbering trout and whispering in their ears

 Give them unquiet dreams' Leaning softly out

 From ferns that drop their tears.

 Over the young streams...

 Come away O human Child! To the waters and the wild

 With a faery, hand in hand, for the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

 Away with us he's going, the solemn-eyed;

 He'll hear no more the lowing of the calves on the warm hillside

 Or the kettle on the hob sing peace into his breast,

 Or see the brown mice bob round and round the oatmeal chest.

 For he comes , the human child to the waters and the wild

 With a faery;hand in hand, from a world more full of weeping than he can understand.

 "Stolen Child" was first published in Dec 1886 in the Irish Monthly. Yeats was fascinated with fairies and celtic stories.  I found this in one of my old poetry books, with the cover ripped off and the pages torn and stained. But the poem intact.

 He was a Symbolist poet, influenced by T.S. Eliot,  and William Blake, and  involved in politics for a good while, during his lifetime.  Yeats died Jan 28th 1939 in France, 77 years ago , yesterday....