Page:Selections from Ancient Irish Poetry - Meyer.djvu/76

 SONG OF SUMMER

Summer-time, season supreme! Splendid is colour then. Blackbirds sing a full lay If there be a slender shaft of day.

The dust-coloured cuckoo calls aloud: Welcome, splendid summer! The bitterness of bad weather is past, The boughs of the wood are a thicket.

Panic startles the heart of the deer, The smooth sea runs apace— Season when ocean sinks asleep, Blossom covers the world.

Bees with puny strength carry A goodly burden, the harvest of blossoms; Up the mountain-side kine take with them mud, The ant makes a rich meal.

The harp of the forest sounds music, The sail gathers—perfect peace; Colour has settled on every height, Haze on the lake of full waters.

The corncrake, a strenuous bard, discourses, The lofty cold waterfall sings A welcome to the warm pool— The talk of the rushes has come.

Light swallows dart aloft, Loud melody encircles the hill, The soft rich mast buds, The stuttering quagmire prattles.