Page:The Collected Poems of Dora Sigerson Shorter.djvu/143



God between us and all harm, For I to-night have seen A banshee in the shadow pass Along the dark boreen.

And as she went she keened and cried And combed her long white hair, She stopped at Molly Reilly's door, And sobbed till midnight there.

And is it for himself she moans, Who is so far away? Or is it Molly Reilly's death She cries until the day?

Now Molly thinks her man is gone A sailor lad to be; She puts a candle at her door Each night for him to see.

But he is off to Galway town, (And who dare tell her this?) Enchanted by a woman's eyes, Half-maddened by her kiss.

So as we go by Molly's door We look towards the sea. And say, “May God bring nome your lad, Wherever he may be.”