LIGHT AND SHADE. ^29 



"Tis vain to strive against the will of fate 



(No sun, no moon, no star) ; 

 Where I had looked for love, I found but hate 



(No beacon gleams afar) ; 

 I gave my heart, my all, to one who cares 

 Now nought for me no one my sorrow shares. 



Cares not my love though I were dead and gone 



(No sun, no moon, no star ! ) 

 God help me, I am weak and all alone 



(No beacon shines afar) : 

 I dare not reveal my grief, I dare not tell ; 

 The fire that burns my heart no tears can quell. 



Traveller that passest o'er hill 



(May thy night have its star ! ) 

 Acquaint my love that you have left me ill, 



And seen my bleeding scar ; 



'Twere better to have killed than maimed me thus 

 A bird with broken wing in the lone wilderness. 



I once was happy, and how bright was then 



Sun, moon, and every star ! 

 Spotless and pure I laughed along the glen ; 



When, swift to mar 

 This happiness and peace, the spoiler came 



And left me all bereft the child of shame. 



And yet I do not hate him, woe is me 



(No sun, no moon, no star ! ) 

 But shun him, O ye maidens frank and free ! 



'Twere better far 



That you were lifeless laid in the cold tomb, 

 In all your virgin pride and beauty's bloom. 



But God is good, and He will mercy have ; 



(How bright the morning star ! ) 

 Even the weary-laden find a grave 



(The beacon shines afar ! ) 

 Bless, Father of our Lord so meek and mild, 



An erring mother and a helpless child. 



The moral of our song is obvious, though you will observe the 

 story is told with all possible delicacy and good taste, a character- 

 istic, by the way, of our best Gaelic poetry. The reader may 



