Monday, August 23, 2010

A Poem and a Painting

Sorry all’s been quiet on this blogger front recently, I’ve been having connection difficulties yet again. Not to worry, I’m back now! Today I have for you a lovely little poem by Irish antiquary Thomas Crofton Croker. The Brothers Grimm were fans, as far as I hear it, and even translated some the Cork man’s work into German. 

TO THE
DOWAGER LADY CHATTERTON,
CASTLE MAHON.
by Thomas Crofton Croker, 1825

Thee, Lady, would I lead through Fairy-land
(Whence cold and doubting reasoners are exiled),
A land of dreams, with air-built castles piled;
The moonlight shefros there, in merry band
With arful cluricaune, should ready stand
To welcome thee - Imagination's child!
Till on thy ear would burst so sadly wild
The banshee's shriek, who points with wither'd hand
In the dim twilight should the phooka come,
Whose dusky form fades in the sunny light,
That opens clear calm lakes upon thy sight,
Where blessed spirts dwell in endless bloom.
I know thee, Lady - thou wilt not deride
Such Fairy Scenes. - Then onward with thy Guide.
By the way, the painting is by my sister’s fella Poochie. I did a post on him a while back. The thing is, he doesn’t actually know I’m using it ‘cause it’s hanging over in my sister’s room and I sneaked a quick snap of it the other day. I’m sure he won’t mind, though, if I give his Deviant Art account another wee plug. So go check him out!

9 comments:

JJ said...

Firstly, the poem is excellent. That's my kind of thing. But...

The picture! I'm astonished. If ever my novel were to be published (which isn't likely, but you never know,) I would want to use that picture for the jacket. It's perfect.

Anonymous said...

Love the poem!!!
And I love the way you captured the art with a quick pic. That's pretty great too!
:)
Zuzu

Kathy said...

So..first I'd like to say I'm home alone. I stepped outside, in the dark to snap a photo of the full moon. It's that warm and thinking of turning to fall feeling outside...you know...kind of creepy. THEN, I come inside and read this poem. I've got the heeby-jeebies something turrible. And it's a-l-l y-o-u-r FAULT!!!
hahahahahaa!! This was just great. 'Cept I'm not kidding about the heeby-jeebies....

Kathy

Róisín said...

As ever, I'm glad you liked and thanks for taking the time out to tell me. Poochie's painting is lovely isn't it? He painted it for my sis ages ago; how lucky is she!

Oh, and sorry Kathy :( The poem is a bit creepy in parts! I used to be so terrified of seeing a banshee as a kid, and the man across the road used to tell me there were three that haunted our wee street... Now I'm getting the heebie jeebies too!

Róisín said...

p.s JJ, if you ever get that novel finished I'll put you in touch with him!

JJ said...

The novel is finished, Roisin, it just isn't likely to get published. But if it ever is...

Oddly enough, one of my favourite short stories is about three banshee, but I don't think they haunt streets as such.

On the other hand, the ghost of old Ginny Green Teeth did used to chase my mother along Bethesda Street when she was young. Or so she said.

My mother was an Aquarius, too. You're all mad.

TheAmazingFoxworthBlog said...

jesus Poochie's art is excellent!!!

that link you originally put up to his deviant art site isn't working so could you re-up it again for the world to see please & thanks :-)

Róisín said...

Isn't it just Declan. We used to have that painting in the sitting room in Belfast and it was the first thing everyone commented on when they came in. Oh, and those links are working you eejit- I just checked them. I'll double check them again but for now try this: http://xxpoochiexx.deviantart.com/gallery/

TheAmazingFoxworthBlog said...

awesome boats on the linkage this time :-)

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