Zippy Kid
Summer Has Come
(Ancient Irish Poetry)
Summer has come, healthy and free
Whence the brown wood is aslope;
The slender nimble deer leap
And the path of seals is smooth
The cuckoo sings sweet music
Whence there is smooth restful sleep;
Gentle birds leap upon the hill
And swift grey stags
Heat has laid hold of the rest of the deer—
The lovely cry of curly packs!
The white extent of the strand smiles
There the swift sea is
A sound of playful breezes in the tops
Of a black oakwood is Drum Daill
The noble hornless herd runs
To whom Cuan-wood is a shelter
Green bursts out on every herb
The top of the green oakwood is bushy
Summer has come, winter has gone
Twisted hollies wound the hound
The blackbird sings a loud strain
To him the live wood is a heritage
The sad angry sea is fallen asleep
The speckled salmon leaps
The sun smiles over every land,—
A parting for me from the brood of cares:
Hounds bark, stags tryst
Ravens flourish, summer has come!