Observations placeholder
Yeats, W B - The Wanderings of Oisin - Over the bare and woody land
Identifier
001824
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
W B Yeats – Collected Poems
From The Wanderings of Oisin
Over the bare and woody land
A whisper of impetuous feet
And ever nearer, nearer grew;
And from the woods rushed out a band
Of men and ladies, hand in hand
And singing, singing all together;
Their brows were white as fragrant milk
Their cloaks made out of yellow silk
And trimmed with many a crimson feather;
And when they saw the cloak I wore
Was dim with mire of a mortal shore
They fingered it and gazed on me
And laughed like murmurs of the sea;
But Niamh with a swift distress
Bid them away and hold their peace;
And when they heard her voice they ran
And knelt there, every girl and man
And kissed, as they would never cease
Her pearl-pale hand and hem of dress