Recompense

I have not heard lutes beckon me, nor the brazen bugles call,

But once in the dim of a haunted lea I heard the silence fall.

I have not heard the regal drum, nor seen the flags unfurled,

But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world.

I have not seen the horsemen fall before the hurtling host,

But I have paced a silent hall where each step waked a ghost.

I have not kissed the tiger-feet of a strange-eyed golden god,

But I have walked a city's street where no man else had trod.

Midnight

Red leaned his elbows upon the table and cursed. The candle guttered low. The bottle was empty, and a slow fire coiled in our brains--the fire which devours and consumes and destroys but never leaps into full wild flame.

I cannot believe in a paradise

Glorious, undefiled,

For gates all scrolled and streets of gold

Are tales for a dreaming child.

The Tempter

Something tapped me on the shoulder

Something whispered, "Come with me,

"Leave the world of men behind you,

"Come where care may never find you

"Come and follow, let me bind you

"Where, in that dark, silent sea,

"Tempest of the world n'er rages;

"There to dream away the ages,

"Heedless of Time's turning pages,

"Only, come with me."

Feach Air Muir Lionadhi ealach Buidhe Mar Or

Mananan Mac Lir

The son of the sea

Is sib unto me

At the break of the year.