Page:The Complete Poems of Francis Ledwidge, 1919.djvu/219

 THE BLACKBIRDS

the Poor Old Woman say:

"At break of day the fowler came,

And took my blackbirds from their songs

Who loved me well thro' shame and blame.

No more from lovely distances

Their songs shall bless me mile by mile,

Nor to white Ashbourne call me down

To wear my crown another while.

With bended flowers the angels mark

For the skylark the place they lie,

From there its little family

Shall dip their wings first in the sky.

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