Leanan Sídhe

I’m Nobody! Who are you, fairy muse?

Are you – Nobody – too?

One look, and I was sold.

A Species stands beyond –

Invisible, as Music –

But positive, as Sound –

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me,

For who would want a poet who cannot live?

Leanan sídhe, rwy' dy garu di.
Why should I blame her that she filled my days with

This violent inspiration and subduing misery?

Her home is empty and her heart is old,

I part thick curtains, and am startled by

The rapid clouds, the moon’s cleanliness

From my rented attic, with no earth to call my own

Except the air-motes,

I?

I make houses shrink

And trees diminish

By going far; let the gods speak softly of us

In days hereafter.

Our dried voices, when

We whisper together

Are quiet and meaningless.

Softly, in the dusk, this woman is singing to me;

How should we like it were stars to burn

With a passion for us we could not return?

Let us go, then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky

Till, losing memory,

Bird, fish, and sheep are ghostly,

And ghosts must do again

What gives them pain.

Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,

There she stands, as if alive.

Why, what could she have done, being what she is,

But to claim my life as hers?

She clung on to me, until I had nothing left to give.

The years to come seemed waste of breath,

A waste of breath the years behind

In balance with this life, this death.

Was there another Troy for her to burn?

Oh starry starry night! This is how

I want to die, and for short, I was afraid.

Earth, receive an honored guest:
Your dear artist is laid to rest.