by Seumas O'Sullivan (1879 - 1958)
The Ballad of the Fiddler
Language: English
He had played by the cottage fire Till the dancing all was done, But his heart kept up the music When the last folk had gone. So he came through the half-door softly And wandered up the hill, In the glow of his heart's desire That was on the music still. And he passed the blackthorn thicket, And he heard the branches groan, As they bowed beneath the burden Of the white fruit of the moon. And he came to the fairy circle Where none but the wise may sit: And blindness was on him surely For he sat in the midst of it. And maybe his heart went dreaming, Or maybe his thoughts went wide, But he took his battered old fiddle And he took the bow from his side. And he said, "I will play them such music As never a fairy heard." He said, "I will play them the music I stole from the throat of a bird." And the sound of his lilt went straying By valley and stream and sedge Till the little white stars went dancing Along the mountain's edge. And things came out of the bushes And out of the grassy mound And joined their hands in a circle And danced to the fiddle's sound. And quicker and sweeter and stranger The notes came hurrying out And joined with a shriek and a whistle In the dance of the Goblin Rout. And all night long on the green lands They danced in a 'wildered ring. And every note of the fiddle Was the shriek of a godless thing. And when the winter morning Came whitely up the glen, The Fiddler's soul fled whistling In the rout of the Fairy Men.
Text Authorship:
- by Seumas O'Sullivan (1879 - 1958), "The Ballad of the Fiddler", appears in Poems, first published 1912 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Richard Johnston (b. 1917), "The Ballad of the Fiddler", published 1971 [high voice and piano], from The Irish Book [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-02-03
Line count: 44
Word count: 287