Reelsong
Source: The Stone Fiddle by Paddy Tunney
Location: New Edition, page 8 (Poem)
Bind sultry silence in thongs of thunder,
and ropes of laughter round the rigging sweel.
Across the flagstones where dancers pivot
their hobnails rivet a rousing reel.
All fiddle-frenzied the feet are flying
and legs are lacing in a hundred loops.
Now fast they’re wheeling to face the music
and handclaps hail them and lusty whoops.
An old man bred in the mountain marrow
stands up to harrow where the dancers ploughed.
A troubador from the heights of glory he
tells his story of love aloud.
The greeshagh glows, the strong mouth quivers,
from throat there rivers, like rain in drouth,
A song that leaps down the lanes of longing
and hones a hunger for the Land of Youth.