Poems

THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE

TO

FLORENCE FARR

Maurteen Bruin

Bridget Bruin

Shawn Bruin

Mary Bruin

Father Hart

A Faery Child

The Scene is laid in the Barony of Kilmacowen, in the County of Sligo, and at a remote time.

Scene.—A room with a hearth on the floor in the middle of a deep alcove to the Right. There are benches in the alcove and a table; and a crucifix on the wall. The alcove is full of a glow of light from the fire. There is an open door facing the audience to the Left, and to the left of this a bench. Through the door one can see the forest. It is night, but the moon or a late sunset glimmers through the trees and carries the eye far off into a vague, mysterious world. MAURTEEN BRUIN, SHAWN BRUIN, and BRIDGET BRUIN sit in the alcove at the table or about the fire. They are dressed in the costume of some remote time, and near them sits an old priest, FATHER HART. He may be dressed as a friar. There is food and drink upon the table. MARY BRUIN stands by the door reading a book. If she looks up she can see through the door into the wood.

BRIDGET

Because I bid her clean the pots for supper

She took that old book down out of the thatch;

She has been doubled over it ever since.

We should be deafened by her groans and moans

Had she to work as some do, Father Hart;

Get up at dawn like me and mend and scour

Or ride abroad in the boisterous night like you,

The pyx and blessed bread under your arm.

SHAWN

Mother, you are too cross.

BRIDGET

You've married her,

And fear to vex her and so take her part.

MAURTEEN (to FATHER HART)

It is but right that youth should side with youth;

She quarrels with my wife a bit at times,

And is too deep just now in the old book!

But do not blame her greatly; she will grow

As quiet as a puff-ball in a tree

When but the moons of marriage dawn and die

For half a score of times.

FATHER HART

Their hearts are wild,

As be the hearts of birds, till children come.

BRIDGET

She would not mind the kettle, milk the cow,

Or even lay the knives and spread the cloth.

SHAWN

Mother, if only——

MAURTEEN

Shawn, this is half empty;

Go, bring up the best bottle that we have.

FATHER HART

I never saw her read a book before,

What can it be?

MAURTEEN (to SHAWN)

What are you waiting for?

You must not shake it when you draw the cork;

It's precious wine, so take your time about it.

(To Priest.) (SHAWN goes.)

There was a Spaniard wrecked at Ocris Head,

When I was young, and I have still some bottles.

He cannot bear to hear her blamed; the book

Has lain up in the thatch these fifty years;

My father told me my grandfather wrote it,

And killed a heifer for the binding of it—

But supper's spread, and we can talk and eat

It was little good he got out of the book,

Because it filled his house with rambling fiddlers,

And rambling ballad-makers and the like.

The griddle-bread is there in front of you.

Colleen, what is the wonder in that book,

That you must leave the bread to cool? Had I

Or had my father read or written books

There were no stocking stuffed with yellow guineas

To come when I am dead to Shawn and you.

FATHER HART

You should not fill your head with foolish dreams.

What are you reading?

MARY

How a Princess Edane,

A daughter of a King of Ireland, heard

A voice singing on a May Eve like this,

And followed half awake and half asleep,

Until she came into the Land of Faery,

Where nobody gets old and godly and grave,

Where nobody gets old and crafty and wise,

Where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue.

And she is still there, busied with a dance

Deep in the dewy shadow of a wood,

Or where stars walk upon a mountain-top.

MAURTEEN

Persuade the colleen to put down the book;

My grandfather would mutter just such things,

And he was no judge of a dog or a horse,

And any idle boy could blarney him;

Just speak your mind.

FATHER HART

Put it away, my colleen;

God spreads the heavens above us like great wings

And gives a little round of deeds and days,

And then come the wrecked angels and set snares,

And bait them with light hopes and heavy dreams,

Until the heart is puffed with pride and goes

Half shuddering and half joyous from God's peace;

And it was some wrecked angel, blind with tears,

Who flattered Edane's heart with merry words.

My colleen, I have seen some other girls

Restless and ill at ease, but years went by

And they grew like their neighbours and were glad

In minding children, working at the churn,

And gossiping of weddings and of wakes;

For life moves out of a red flare of dreams

Into a common light of common hours,

Until old age bring the red flare again.

MAURTEEN

That's true—but she's too young to know it's true.

BRIDGET

She's old enough to know that it is wrong

To mope and idle.

MAURTEEN

I've little blame for her;

She's dull when my big son is in the fields,

And that and maybe this good woman's tongue

Have driven her to hide among her dreams

Like children from the dark under the bed-clothes.

BRIDGET

She'd never do a turn if I were silent.

MAURTEEN

And maybe it is natural upon May Eve

To dream of the good people. But tell me, girl,

If you've the branch of blessed quicken wood

That women hang upon the post of the door

That they may send good luck into the house?

Remember they may steal new-married brides

After the fall of twilight on May Eve,

Or what old women mutter at the fire

Is but a pack of lies.

FATHER HART

It may be truth.

We do not know the limit of those powers

God has permitted to the evil spirits

For some mysterious end. You have done right (to MARY);

It's well to keep old innocent customs up.

(MARY BRUIN has taken a bough of quicken wood from a seat and hung it on a nail in the door-post. A girl child strangely dressed, perhaps in faery green, comes out of the wood and takes it away.)

MARY

I had no sooner hung it on the nail

Before a child ran up out of the wind;

She has caught it in her hand and fondled it;

Her face is pale as water before dawn.

FATHER HART

Whose child can this be?

MAURTEEN

No one's child at all.

She often dreams that some one has gone by,

When there was nothing but a puff of wind.

MARY

They have taken away the blessed quicken wood,

They will not bring good luck into the house;

Yet I am glad that I was courteous to them,

For are not they, likewise, children of God?

FATHER HART

Colleen, they are the children of the fiend,

And they have power until the end of Time,

When God shall fight with them a great pitched battle

And hack them into pieces.

MARY

He will smile,

Father, perhaps, and open His great door.

FATHER HART

Did but the lawless angels see that door

They would fall, slain by everlasting peace;

And when such angels knock upon our doors,

Who goes with them must drive through the same storm.

(A thin old arm comes round the door-post and knocks and beckons. It is clearly seen in the silvery light. MARY BRUIN goes to door and stands in it for a moment. MAURTEEN BRUIN is busy filling FATHER HART'S plate. BRIDGET BRUIN stirs the fire.)

MARY (coming to table)

There's somebody out there that beckoned me

And raised her hand as though it held a cup,

And she was drinking from it, so it may be

That she is thirsty.

(She takes milk from the table and carries it to the door.)

FATHER HART

That will be the child

That you would have it was no child at all.

BRIDGET

And maybe, Father, what he said was true;

For there is not another night in the year

So wicked as to-night.

MAURTEEN

Nothing can harm us

While the good Father's underneath our roof.

MARY

A little queer old woman dressed in green.

BRIDGET

The good people beg for milk and fire

Upon May Eve—woe to the house that gives,

For they have power upon it for a year.

MAURTEEN

Hush, woman, hush!

BRIDGET

She's given milk away.

I knew she would bring evil on the house.

MAURTEEN

Who was it?

MARY

Both the tongue and face were strange.

MAURTEEN

Some strangers came last week to Clover Hill;

She must be one of them.

BRIDGET

I am afraid.

FATHER HART

The Cross will keep all evil from the house

While it hangs there.

MAURTEEN

Come, sit beside me, colleen,

And put away your dreams of discontent,

For I would have you light up my last days,

Like the good glow of the turf; and when I die

You'll be the wealthiest hereabout, for, colleen,

I have a stocking full of yellow guineas

Hidden away where nobody can find it.

BRIDGET

You are the fool of every pretty face,

And I must spare and pinch that my son's wife

May have all kinds of ribbons for her head.

MAURTEEN

Do not be cross; she is a right good girl!

The butter is by your elbow, Father Hart.

My colleen, have not Fate and Time and Change

Done well for me and for old Bridget there?

We have a hundred acres of good land,

And sit beside each other at the fire.

I have this reverend Father for my friend,

I look upon your face and my son's face—

We've put his plate by yours—and here he comes,

And brings with him the only thing we have lacked,

Abundance of good wine. (SHAWN comes in.) Stir up the fire,

And put new turf upon it till it blaze;

To watch the turf-smoke coiling from the fire,

And feel content and wisdom in your heart,

This is the best of life; when we are young

We long to tread a way none trod before,

But find the excellent old way through love,

And through the care of children, to the hour

For bidding Fate and Time and Change goodbye.

(MARY takes a sod of turf from the fire and goes out through the door. SHAWN follows her and meets her coming in.)

SHAWN

What is it draws you to the chill o' the wood?

There is a light among the stems of the trees

That makes one shiver.

MARY

A little queer old man

Made me a sign to show he wanted fire

To light his pipe.

BRIDGET

You've given milk and fire

Upon the unluckiest night of the year and brought,

For all you know, evil upon the house.

Before you married you were idle and fine

And went about with ribbons on your head;

And now—no, Father, I will speak my mind—

She is not a fitting wife for any man——

SHAWN

Be quiet, Mother!

MAURTEEN

You are much too cross.

MARY

What do I care if I have given this house,

Where I must hear all day a bitter tongue,

Into the power of faeries!

BRIDGET

You know well

How calling the good people by that name,

Or talking of them over much at all,

May bring all kinds of evil on the house.

MARY

Come, faeries, take me out of this dull house!

Let me have all the freedom I have lost;

Work when I will and idle when I will!

Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,

For I would ride with you upon the wind.

Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,

And dance upon the mountains like a flame.

FATHER HART

You cannot know the meaning of your words.

MARY

Father, I am right weary of four tongues:

A tongue that is too crafty and too wise,

A tongue that is too godly and too grave,

A tongue that is more bitter than the tide,

And a kind tongue too full of drowsy love,

Of drowsy love and my captivity.

(SHAWN BRUIN leads her to a seat at the left of the door.)

SHAWN

Do not blame me; I often lie awake

Thinking that all things trouble your bright head.

How beautiful it is—your broad pale forehead

Under a cloudy blossoming of hair!

Sit down beside me here—these are too old,

And have forgotten they were ever young.

MARY

O, you are the great door-post of this house,

And I the branch of blessed quicken wood,

And if I could I'd hang upon the post,

Till I had brought good luck into the house.

(She would put her arms about him, but looks shyly at the priest and lets her arms fall.)

FATHER HART

My daughter, take his hand—by love alone

God binds us to Himself and to the hearth,

That shuts us from the waste beyond His peace,

From maddening freedom and bewildering light.

SHAWN

Would that the world were mine to give it you,

And not its quiet hearths alone, but even

All that bewilderment of light and freedom,

If you would have it.

MARY

I would take the world

And break it into pieces in my hands

To see you smile watching it crumble away.

SHAWN

Then I would mould a world of fire and dew,

With no one bitter, grave or over wise,

And nothing marred or old to do you wrong,

And crowd the enraptured quiet of the sky

With candles burning to your lonely face.

MARY

Your looks are all the candles that I need.

SHAWN

Once a fly dancing in a beam of the sun,

Or the light wind blowing out of the dawn,

Could fill your heart with dreams none other knew,

But now the indissoluble sacrament

Has mixed your heart that was most proud and cold

With my warm heart for ever; the sun and moon

Must fade and heaven be rolled up like a scroll;

But your white spirit still walk by my spirit.

(A Voice singing in the wood.)

MAURTEEN

There's some one singing. Why, it's but a child.

It sang, "The lonely of heart is withered away."

A strange song for a child, but she sings sweetly.

Listen, listen!

(Goes to door.)

MARY

O, cling close to me,

Because I have said wicked things to-night.

THE VOICE

The wind blows out of the gates of the day,

The wind blows over the lonely of heart,

And the lonely of heart is withered away.

While the faeries dance in a place apart,

Shaking their milk-white feet in a ring,

Tossing their milk-white arms in the air;

For they hear the wind laugh and murmur and sing

Of a land where even the old are fair,

And even the wise are merry of tongue;

But I heard a reed of Coolaney say,

"When the wind has laughed and murmured and sung

The lonely of heart is withered away!"

MAURTEEN

Being happy, I would have all others happy,

So I will bring her in out of the cold.

(He brings in the faery child.)

THE CHILD

I tire of winds and waters and pale lights.

MAURTEEN

And that's no wonder, for when night has fallen

The wood's a cold and a bewildering place,

But you are welcome here.

THE CHILD

I am welcome here.

For when I tire of this warm little house

There is one here that must away, away.

MAURTEEN

O, listen to her dreamy and strange talk.

Are you not cold?

THE CHILD

I will crouch down beside you,

For I have run a long, long way this night.

BRIDGET

You have a comely shape.

MAURTEEN

Your hair is wet.

BRIDGET

I'll warm your chilly feet.

MAURTEEN

You have come indeed

A long, long way—for I have never seen

Your pretty face—and must be tired and hungry,

Here is some bread and wine.

THE CHILD

The wine is bitter.

Old mother, have you no sweet food for me?

BRIDGET

I have some honey.

(She goes into the next room.)

MAURTEEN

You have coaxing ways,

The mother was quite cross before you came.

(BRIDGET returns with the honey and fills a porringer with milk.)

BRIDGET

She is the child of gentle people; look

At her white hands and at her pretty dress.

I've brought you some new milk, but wait a while

And I will put it to the fire to warm,

For things well fitted for poor folk like us

Would never please a high-born child like you.

THE CHILD

From dawn, when you must blow the fire ablaze,

You work your fingers to the bone, old mother.

The young may lie in bed and dream and hope,

But you must work your fingers to the bone

Because your heart is old.

BRIDGET

The young are idle.

THE CHILD

Your memories have made you wise, old father;

The young must sigh through many a dream and hope,

But you are wise because your heart is old.

(BRIDGET gives her more bread and honey.)

MAURTEEN

O, who would think to find so young a girl

Loving old age and wisdom?

THE CHILD

No more, mother.

MAURTEEN

What a small bite! The milk is ready now. (Hands it to her.) What a small sip!

THE CHILD

Put on my shoes, old mother.

Now I would like to dance now I have eaten,

The reeds are dancing by Coolaney lake,

And I would like to dance until the reeds

And the white waves have danced themselves asleep.

(BRIDGET puts on the shoes, and the CHILD is about to dance, but suddenly sees the crucifix and shrieks and covers her eyes.)

What is that ugly thing on the black cross?

FATHER HART

You cannot know how naughty your words are!

That is our Blessed Lord.

THE CHILD

Hide it away!

BRIDGET

I have begun to be afraid again.

THE CHILD

Hide it away!

MAURTEEN

That would be wickedness!

BRIDGET

That would be sacrilege!

THE CHILD

The tortured thing!

Hide it away!

MAURTEEN

Her parents are to blame.

FATHER HART

That is the image of the Son of God.

THE CHILD (caressing him)

Hide it away, hide it away!

MAURTEEN

No, no.

FATHER HART

Because you are so young and like a bird,

That must take fright at every stir of the leaves,

I will go take it down.

THE CHILD

Hide it away!

And cover it out of sight and out of mind!

(FATHER HART takes crucifix from wall and carries it towards inner room.)

FATHER HART

Since you have come into this barony,

I will instruct you in our blessed faith;

And being so keen witted you'll soon learn.

(To the others.)

We must be tender to all budding things,

Our Maker let no thought of Calvary

Trouble the morning stars in their first song.

(Puts crucifix in inner room.)

THE CHILD

Here is level ground for dancing; I will dance.

(Sings.)

"The wind blows out of the gates of the day,

The wind blows over the lonely of heart,

And the lonely of heart is withered away."

(She dances.)

MARY (to SHAWN)

Just now when she came near I thought I heard

Other small steps beating upon the floor,

And a faint music blowing in the wind,

Invisible pipes giving her feet the tune.

SHAWN

I heard no steps but hers.

MARY

I hear them now,

The unholy powers are dancing in the house.

MAURTEEN

Come over here, and if you promise me

Not to talk wickedly of holy things

I will give you something.

THE CHILD

Bring it me, old father.

MAURTEEN

Here are some ribbons that I bought in the town

For my son's wife—but she will let me give them

To tie up that wild hair the winds have tumbled.

THE CHILD

Come, tell me, do you love me?

MAURTEEN

Yes, I love you.

THE CHILD

Ah, but you love this fireside. Do you love me?

FATHER HART

When the Almighty puts so great a share

Of His own ageless youth into a creature,

To look is but to love.

THE CHILD

But you love Him?

BRIDGET

She is blaspheming.

THE CHILD

And do you love me too?

MARY

I do not know.

THE CHILD

You love that young man there,

Yet I could make you ride upon the winds,

Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,

And dance upon the mountains like a flame.

MARY

Queen of Angels and kind saints defend us!

Some dreadful thing will happen. A while ago

She took away the blessed quicken wood.

FATHER HART

You fear because of her unmeasured prattle;

She knows no better. Child, how old are you?

THE CHILD

When winter sleep is abroad my hair grows thin,

My feet unsteady. When the leaves awaken

My mother carries me in her golden arms;

I'll soon put on my womanhood and marry

The spirits of wood and water, but who can tell

When I was born for the first time? I think

I am much older than the eagle cock

That blinks and blinks on Ballygawley Hill,

And he is the oldest thing under the moon.

FATHER HART

O she is of the faery people.

THE CHILD

One called,

I sent my messengers for milk and fire,

She called again and after that I came.

(All except SHAWN and MARY BRUIN gather behind the priest for protection.)

SHAWN (rising)

Though you have made all these obedient,

You have not charmed my sight and won from me

A wish or gift to make you powerful;

I'll turn you from the house.

FATHER HART

No, I will face her.

THE CHILD

Because you took away the crucifix

I am so mighty that there's none can pass,

Unless I will it, where my feet have danced

Or where I've whirled my finger-tops.

(SHAWN tries to approach her and cannot.)

MAURTEEN

Look, look!

There something stops him—look how he moves his hands

As though he rubbed them on a wall of glass!

FATHER HART

I will confront this mighty spirit alone;

Be not afraid, the Father is with us,

The Holy Martyrs and the Innocents,

The adoring Magi in their coats of mail,

And He who died and rose on the third day,

And all the nine angelic hierarchies.

(The CHILD kneels upon the settle beside Mary and puts her arms about her.)

Cry, daughter, to the Angels and the Saints.

THE CHILD

You shall go with me, newly-married bride,

And gaze upon a merrier multitude.

White-armed Nuala, Aengus of the Birds,

Feacra of the hurtling foam, and him

Who is the ruler of the Western Host,

Finvarra, and their Land of Heart's Desire,

Where beauty has no ebb, decay no flood,

But joy is wisdom, Time an endless song.

I kiss you and the world begins to fade.

SHAWN

Awake out of that trance—and cover up

Your eyes and ears.

FATHER HART

She must both look and listen,

For only the soul's choice can save her now.

Come over to me, daughter; stand beside me;

Think of this house and of your duties in it.

THE CHILD

Stay and come with me, newly-married bride,

For if you hear him you grow like the rest;

Bear children, cook, and bend above the churn,

And wrangle over butter, fowl, and eggs,

Until at last, grown old and bitter of tongue,

You're crouching there and shivering at the grave.

FATHER HART

Daughter, I point you out the way to Heaven.

THE CHILD

But I can lead you, newly-married bride,

Where nobody gets old and crafty and wise,

Where nobody gets old and godly and grave,

Where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue,

And where kind tongues bring no captivity;

For we are but obedient to the thoughts

That drift into the mind at a wink of the eye.

FATHER HART

By the dear Name of the One crucified,

I bid you, Mary Bruin, come to me.

THE CHILD

I keep you in the name of your own heart.

FATHER HART

It is because I put away the crucifix

That I am nothing, and my power is nothing.

I'll bring it here again.

MAURTEEN (clinging to him)

No.

BRIDGET

Do not leave us.

FATHER HART

O, let me go before it is too late;

It is my sin alone that brought it all.

(Singing outside.)

THE CHILD

I hear them sing, "Come, newly-married bride,

Come, to the woods and waters and pale lights."

MARY

I will go with you.

FATHER HART

She is lost, alas!

THE CHILD (standing by the door)

But clinging mortal hope must fall from you,

For we who ride the winds, run on the waves,

And dance upon the mountains are more light

Than dewdrops on the banner of the dawn.

MARY

O, take me with you.

SHAWN

Beloved, I will keep you.

I've more than words, I have these arms to hold you,

Nor all the faery host, do what they please,

Shall ever make me loosen you from these arms.

MARY

Dear face! Dear voice!

THE CHILD

Come, newly-married bride.

MARY

I always loved her world—and yet—and yet——

THE CHILD

White bird, white bird, come with me, little bird.

MARY

She calls me!

THE CHILD

Come with me, little bird.

(Distant dancing figures appear in the wood.)

MARY

I can hear songs and dancing.

SHAWN

Stay with me.

MARY

I think that I would stay—and yet—and yet——

THE CHILD

Come, little bird, with crest of gold.

MARY (very softly)

And yet——

THE CHILD

Come, little bird with silver feet!

(MARY BRUIN dies, and the CHILD goes.)

SHAWN

She is dead!

BRIDGET

Come from that image; body and soul are gone.

You have thrown your arms about a drift of leaves,

Or bole of an ash-tree changed into her image.

FATHER HART

Thus do the spirits of evil snatch their prey,

Almost out of the very hand of God;

And day by day their power is more and more,

And men and women leave old paths, for pride

Comes knocking with thin knuckles on the heart.

(Outside there are dancing figures, and it may be a white bird, and many voices singing:)

"The wind blows out of the gates of the day,

The wind blows over the lonely of heart,

And the lonely of heart is withered away;

While the faeries dance in a place apart,

Shaking their milk-white feet in a ring,

Tossing their milk-white arms in the air;

For they hear the wind laugh and murmur and sing

Of a land where even the old are fair,

And even the wise are merry of tongue;

But I heard a reed of Coolaney say—

'When the wind has laughed and murmured and sung,

The lonely of heart is withered away.'"