The Land of Hearts Desire | Page 3

people by that name
Or
talking of them over much at all
May bring all kinds of evil on the
house.
MAIRE BRUIN.
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, came 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!
MAIRE BRUIN.
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 comes over to her and leads her to the settle.
SHAWN BRUIN.
Do not blame me: I often lie awake
Thinking that all things trouble
your bright head--
How beautiful it is--such broad pale brows

Under a cloudy blossoming of hair!
Sit down beside me here--these
are too old,
And have forgotten they were ever young.
MAIRE BRUIN.
O, you are the great door-post of this house,
And I the red nasturtium
climbing up.

[She takes_ SHAWN'S hand but looks shyly at the priest and lets it go._
FATHER HART.
Good daughter, take his hand--by love alone
God binds us to Himself
and to the hearth
And shuts us from the waste beyond His peace,

From maddening freedom and bewildering light.
SHAWN BRUIN.
Would that the world were mine to give it you
With every quiet
hearth and barren waste,
The maddening freedom of its woods and
tides,
And the bewildering lights upon its hills.
MAIRE BRUIN.
Then I would take and break it in my hands
To see you smile
watching it crumble away.
SHAWN BRUIN.
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.
MAIRE BRUIN.
Your looks are all the candles that I need.
SHAWN BRUIN.
Once a fly dancing in a beam o' 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; and sun and moor,

Must fade and heaven be rolled up like a scroll;
But your white

spirit still walk by my spirit.
For not a power in earth and heaven and
hell
Can break this bond binding heart unto heart.
[A VOICE sings in the distance.
MAIRE BRUIN.
Did you hear something call? O, guard me close,
Because I have said
wicked things to-night.
A VOICE (close to the door).
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 must wither away!'
MAURTEEN BRUIN.
I am right happy, and would make all else
Be happy too. I hear a
child outside,
And will go bring her in out of the cold.
[He opens the door. A_ CHILD dressed in a green jacket with a red cap
comes into the house._
THE CHILD.
I tire of winds and waters and pale lights!
MAURTEEN BRUIN.
You are most welcome. It is cold out there,
Who'd think to face such
cold on a May Eve.

THE CHILD.
And when I tire of this warm little house,
There is one here who must
away, away,
To where the woods, the stars, and the white streams

Are holding a continual festival.
MAURTEEN BRUIN.
O listen to her dreamy and strange talk,
Come to the fire.
THE CHILD.
I'll sit upon your knee,
For I have run from where the winds are born,

And long-to rest my feet a little while.
[She sits upon his knee.
BRIDGET BRUIN.
How pretty you are!
MAURTEEN BRUIN.
Your hair is wet with dew!
BRIDGET BRUIN.
I'll chafe your poor chilled feet.
MAURTEEN BRUIN.
You must have come
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.
They are both nasty.
Old mother, have you nothing nice for me?

BRIDGET BRUIN.
I have some honey!
[She goes into the next room.
MAURTEEN BRUIN.
You are a dear child;
The mother was quite cross before you came.
[BRIDGET _returns with the honey, and goes to the dresser and fills a
porringer with milk._
BRIDGET BRUIN.
She