A Celtic Song-Cycle

Song Cycle by Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, Sir (1883 - 1953)

1. Eilidh my Fawn
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
O far away upon the hills at the lighting of the dawn 
I saw a stirring in the fern And out there leapt a Fawn,
And O my heart was up at that and like the wind it blew
Till its shadow hovered o'er the fawn as through the fern it flew...
And Eilidh, Eilidh, Eilidh! was the wind's song on the hill
And Eilidh, Eilidh, Eilidh! did the echoing corries fill:
My hunting heart was glad indeed, at the lighting of the dawn,
For O it was the hunting then of my bonnie, bonnie Fawn.

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2. Closing doors
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Eilidh, Eilidh, Eilidh, heart of me, dear and sweet
In dreams I am hearing the whisper, the sound of your running feet
that like the sea-hoofs beat a music by day and night, Eilidh,
On the sands of my heart, my sweet.

O sands, of my heart, what wind moans low along thy shadowy shore?
Is that the deep seaheart I hear with the dying sob at its core?
Each dim lost wave that lapses is like a closing door:
'Tis closing doors they hear at last who soon shall hear no more,
who soon, soon shall hear no more, my grief, no more!
Eilidh, Eilidh, Eilidh!

Come home to the heart of me! 'tis pain I am having ever,
Eilidh, the pain that will not be.
Come home, come home, for closing doors are like the waves of the sea;
once closed, they are closed forever,
Eilidh, lost lost, lost for you and me.

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3. Thy dark eyes to mine
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Thy dark eyes to mine, Eilidh,
Lamps of desire!
O how my soul leaps
Leaps to their fire!

Sure, now, if I in heaven,
Dreaming in bliss,
Heard but the whisper,
But the lost echo even
Of such a kiss -- 

All of the Soul of me
Would leap afar -- 
If that called me to thee
Aye, I would leap afar
A falling star!

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Tes yeux sombres vers les miens", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. A Celtic Lullaby
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Lennavan-mo,
Lennavan-mo,
Who is it swinging you to and fro,
With a long low swing and a sweet low croon,
 ...  loving words of the mother's rune?

Lennavan-mo,
Lennavan-mo,
Who is it swinging you to and fro?
I am thinking it is an angel fair,
The Angel that looks on the gulf from the lowest stair
And swings the green world upward by its leagues of sunshine hair.

Lennavan-mo,
Lennavan-mo,
Who swingeth you and the Angel to and fro?
It is He whose faintest thought is a world afar,
It is He whose wish is a leaping seven-moon'd star,
It is He, Lennavan-mo,
To whom you and I and all things flow.

Lennavan-mo,
Lennavan-mo,
It is only a little wee lass you are, Eilidh-mochree,
But as this wee blossom has roots in the depths of the sky,
So you are  ...  one with the Lord of Eternity -- 
Bonnie wee lass that you are,
My morning-star,
Eilidh-mo-chree, Lennavan-mo, Lennavan-mo.

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5. At the last
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
She cometh no more:
Time too is dead.
The last tide is led
to the last shore.

Eternity!
What is Eternity,
But the sea coming,
The sea going
Forevermore?

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Total word count: 499