Two Poems by Seumas O'Sullivan

It is a whisper among the hazel bushes ; 
It is a long, low, whispering voice that fills 
With a sad music the bending and swaying rushes ; 
It is a heart-beat deep in the quiet hills. 

Twilight people, why will you still be crying, 
Crying and calling to me out of the trees ? 
For under the quiet grass the wise are lying, 
And all the strong ones are gone over the seas. 

And I am old, and in my heart at your calling 
Only the old dead dreams a-fluttering go ; 
As the wind, the forest wind, in its falling 
Sets the withered leaves fluttering to and fro. 

A piper in the streets today
set up, and tuned, and started to play,
And away, away, away on the tide
of his music we started; on ev'ry side
Doors and windows were opened wide,
[And men left down their work and came,]1
And women with petticoats coloured [like]2 flame.
And little bare feet that were blue with cold 
went dancing back to the age of gold,
And all the world went gay, went gay
For half an hour in the [street]3 today.