| Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922. |
| |
| 63. The King’s Son |
| |
| By Thomas Boyd |
| |
| |
| WHO rideth through the driving rain | |
| At such a headlong speed? | |
| Naked and pale he rides amain | |
| Upon a naked steed. | |
| |
| Nor hollow nor height his going bars, | 5 |
| His wet steed shines like silk, | |
| His head is golden to the stars | |
| And his limbs are white as milk. | |
| |
| But, lo, he dwindles as the light | |
| That lifts from a black mere, | 10 |
| And, as the fair youth wanes from sight, | |
| The steed grows mightier. | |
| |
| What wizard by yon holy tree | |
| Mutters unto the sky | |
| Where Macha’s flame-tongued horses flee | 15 |
| On hoofs of thunder by? | |
| |
| Ah, ’tis not holy so to ban | |
| The youth of kingly seed: | |
| Ah! woe, the wasting of a man | |
| Who changes to a steed! | 20 |
| |
| Nightly upon the Plain of Kings, | |
| When Macha’s day is nigh, | |
| He gallops; and the dark wind brings | |
| His lonely human cry. | |
| |
|
|
|
