Books and other items printed in Gaelic from 1871 to 1900 > Gaelic bards, and original poems

78
MODERN GAELIC BARDS.
In little level inches,*
Where the seed-corn is sown;
And where the ripening crop gets white,
As curds upon the whey,
Productive, sappy, wholesome,
In regular array.
In winter was it cheerful.
Such sports in weddings gave,
When all, without a heavy thought,
Heard the smooth pibrochs rave ;
While fiddlers on the lively strings,
The dance-tunes played so well;
And damsels lent their voices,
The cheerful sound to swell.
The spring-water salmon there
Winds all the streamlets through ;
Hill-birds are there in numbers,
And thousand black-cocks too.
The small doe paws beside her kid,
And strong bucks not a few,
In that Glen’s wild forest scenes,
The gallant youths pursue.
Then when we all drew homeward
It was our pleasant way,
To gather to the tavern
For dance and song and play.
Cordial one to another,
The hides for pay were near ;
So when they cried “ Another stoup,”
No hunter felt a fear.
* Inches—in Gaelic, Innis—sometimes an Island—sometimes
choice pasture land, such especially as the green round flats on
the banks of a river.