THE RED MAN'S WIFE

'Tis what they say, Thy little heel fits in a shoe. 'Tis what they say, Thy little mouth kisses well, too. 'Tis what they say, Thousand loves that you leave me to rue; That the tailor went the way That the wife of the Red man knew. Nine months did I spend In a prison closed tightly and bound; Bolts on my smalls And a thousand locks frowning around; But o'er the tide I would leap with the leap of a swan, Could I once set my side By the bride of the Red-haired man. I thought, O my life, That one house between us, love, would be; And I thought I would find You once coaxing my child on your knee; But now the curse of the High One On him let it be, And on all of the band of the liars Who put silence between you and me. There grows a tree in the garden With blossoms that tremble and shake, I lay my hand on its bark And I feel that my heart must break. On one wish alone My soul through the long months ran, One little kiss From the wife of the Red-haired man. But the Day of Doom shall come, And hills and harbours be rent; A mist shall fall on the sun From the dark clouds heavily sent; The sea shall be dry, And earth under mourning and ban; Then loud shall he cry For the wife of the Red-haired man. Douglas Hyde.