Play · 1900 · The Shadowy Waters
The Harp of Aengus
Edain came out of Midher’s hill, and layBeside young Aengus in his tower of glass,Where time is drowned in odour-laden windsAnd druid moons, and murmuring of boughs,And sleepy boughs, and boughs where apples madeOf opal and ruby and pale chrysoliteAwake unsleeping fires; and wove seven strings,Sweet with all music, out of his long hair,Because her hands had been made wild by love;When Midher’s wife had changed her to a fly,He made a harp with druid apple woodThat she among her winds might know he wept;And from that hour he has watched over noneBut faithful lovers.
Text: The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats, volume II (Shakespeare Head Press, Stratford-on-Avon, 1908). Public domain.