Innismeela

I can only see the moonbeams that on Innismeela float,
But if I slept inside the fairies’ ring
I could see them sailing, sailing in their little silver boat,
And I’d hear the song the little people sing.

For the Fairy Man has told me how he slumbered there one day,
And woke to find them dancing on the shore,
And still he hears them singing, though ‘tis faint and far away
And he’s wishing he was with them ever more.

I’ve seen the Queen of Fairyland! I’ve heard her wondrous song
With her to heights of happiness I have flown,
Now I know the days are weary, now I know the nights are long,
For the one I love has left me all alone.

Innismeela! Innismeela! There’s a sleep that knows no dream,
And its in that dreamless slumber I shall be,
For I know that I shall waken by some still celestial stream
And through the golden light come to me.

Prose, Poems & Parodies of Percy French, 1980, Helicon Limited, Dublin.