Eos: An Epic of the Dawn, and Other Poems

By Nicholas Flood Davin

 

AN IRISH FAIR.

SUGGESTED BY THE PEASANTS’ SONG IN “FAUST.”

 
Now Paddy to the dancing flew,
His shirt was clean, his necktie new,
    And Peggy’s gown and face were beaming;
Beneath the canvas every spark
Was gay as dewy morning’s lark,
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        Yukkeh! Yukkeh!
        Yukkeizah! heizah! heh!
The fiddle sticks were screaming.

And Phelim sidled up to Proo,
And round her waist his arm drew,
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    The spalpeen sure was ravin’;
The modest colleen jumped aside,
Half crimson with offended pride,
        Yukkeh! Yukkeh!
        Yukkeizah! heizah! heh!
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Now don’t be misbehavin’.

But as his smile offence takes flight,
They dance to left, they dance to right,
    Their hands their hips are clutching;
They grow quite red, they grow quite warm.
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Then on they wander arm in arm,
        Yukkeh! Yukkeh!
        Yukkeizah! heizah! heh!
’Neath the trees their lips are touching. [Page 116]

Come, come, sir be not quite so bold,
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Or you shall find that I can scold,
    This is the way of men’s betrayin’;
He comes the blarney, utters vows,
And on the roam ’neath blossomed boughs,
        Yukkeh! Yukkeh!
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        Yukkeizah! heizah! heh!
And far from crowds the two are straying. [Page 117]