Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

The Wayfarer (Author: Pádraic H. Pearse)

p.341

1. 1] The beauty of the world hath made me sad,
   2] This beauty that will pass;
   3] Sometimes my heart hath shaken with great joy
   4] To see a leaping squirrel in a tree,
   5] Or a red lady-bird upon a stalk,
   6] Or little rabbits in a field at evening,
   7] Lit by a slanting sun,
   8] Or some green hill where shadows drifted by
   9] Some quiet hill where mountailly man hath sown
   10] And soon would reap; near to the gate of Heaven;
   11] Or children with bare feet upon the sands
   12] Of some ebbed sea, or playing on the streets
   13] Of little towns in Connacht,
   14] Things young and happy.
   15] And then my heart hath told me:
   16] These will pass,
   17] Will pass and change, will die and be no more,
   18] Things bright and green, things young and happy;
   19] And I have gone upon my way
   20] Sorrowful.