Page:In the Seven Woods, Yeats, 1903.djvu/17

 The children of the Maines out of sleep,

And set them digging into Anbual's hill.

We shadows, while they uproot his earthy house,

Will overthrow his shadows and carry off

Caer, his blue eyed daughter that I love.

I helped your fathers when they built these walls

And I would have your help in my great need,

Queen of high Cruachan'.

'I obey your will

With speedy feet and a most thankful heart:

For you have been, O Aengus of the birds

Our giver of good counsel and good luck'.

And with a groan, as if the mortal breath

Could but awaken sadly upon lips

That happier breath had moved, her husband turned

Face downward, tossing in a troubled sleep;

But Maeve, and not with a slow feeble foot,

Came to the threshold of the painted house,

Where her grandchildren slept, and cried aloud,

Until the pillared dark began to stir

With shouting and the clang of unhooked arms.

She told them of the many-changing ones;

And all that night, and all through the next day

To middle night, they dug into the hill.

At middle night great cats with silver claws,

Bodies of shadow and blind eyes like pearls, 5