Below are the poems for my piece, Daughter of the Light. The piece has a story as well as an elemental inspiration to each movement, so along with the story, the first movement was inspired by the autumn leaves. Fómhar is actually the Irish word for "Autumn". The second movement is named after the Irish Sea, which is Muir Mhanainn in Gaelic. The last movement is inspired by the Irish goddess of summer, love, and wealth, Áine.
I.
Fómhar Jig
I awoke to the rising dawn
As mist lay thick on the rolling hills
And the piper played his morning song
While birds flew trees they’d rested on
It was the village festival
And hunters brought their finest meats
While shepherds ambled to the hall
With daughters dressed in shades of fall
Outside the players played their tunes
While people came from all around
To spend a cheerful afternoon
Dancing under bright festoons
The kick and stomp of dancing feet
Rustled through the greenest grass
And reds and golds of autumn leaves
Formed my childhood memories
II.
Muir Mhanainn Waltz
As years passed
by, I heard the sound
Of rolling waves
and foaming sea,
I wondered what
could yet be found
On far off
shores that called to me
I found a ship
to take me there
Far across the
widening world
To lands with
crisp and dulcet air
Off beyond the
ocean’s curl
With hands upon
the great backstay
Of a vessel set
for silver shores
I listened to
the lapping waves
And wondered
what I waited for
When leagues had
passed in our wide wake,
I set my feet on
city streets
I could not know
what road to take
Or what new
trials I would meet
I sank into the
bustling sea
Of faces in the
shining lights
Yet found the
place that was to me
The only one
that could be right
And months on,
in the budding spring
As I was walking
down a lane
I stumbled on a
lowly thing
Playing his
tunes out in the rain
He whistled what
I’d never heard
Yet always
seemed to know so well
And though it
seemed to me absurd
I was enraptured
and compelled
To ask the
pauper boy his name
And sit there in
the rain a while
Oh, never could
I be the same
If I had passed
that pauper by.
The years passed
by from when we met
And married in a
little church,
And worries
caused me to forget
The sound of
leaves in the silver birch
I could not see
the growing light
Or glowing of
the shifting sea
When dawn came
at the end of night
To set my
burdened spirit free
I could not
taste the strawberries
Or smell the
scent of fallen rain.
Only darkness I
could see
And feel my
scarring, searing pain.
Below a stormy,
thundering sky
I left my home
and wandered out
Into the
darkness of the night
As deafening
rain supplied my doubt
For days I
wandered aimlessly
Until I could
not wander more,
My legs would
not keep holding me
They were too bloody, stiff and sore
I fell into a
weary sleep
Out in the
boundless, rolling hills
And dreamt that
I had fallen deep
Into a misty,
blackened dell
I could not see
my way back home
Nor did I hear a
single voice
And after
wandering hours alone
I knew that I
was left no choice
I turned my eyes
up to the sky
And whispered
tired, shaking words
As tears
consumed my reddened eyes
And troubling
calm was all I heard
A wind blew
strong upon my face,
The whelming
darkness fell away
I slipped into a
different place
Into the dawning
of the day
And in the light
I heard my name
As it resounded
through the trees
For led by some
cherubic aim
My love at last
had come for me
III. Áine's Reel
Decades past and
I went out
Into the hills
I’d dreamt about
I spent my days
in fruitful ways
On melodies I
loved to play
And in the dusk
I took my mare
And rode into
the mountain air
By brooks and
streams and fallen trees
That garnished
my felicity
I loved my
pauper most of all
And spent my
nights with him enthralled
With me as I was
still with him
For love’s a
light that never dims
And in my dreams
I saw the place
Where I awoke
and saw his face
And was reminded
of the tune
He played that
rainy afternoon
When I had found
the love I’d kept
For so long
hidden and untapped
Like wine in
barrels aged for years
I held it for my
cavalier
And still we
danced to lilting songs
That kept our
cheerful spirits strong
And in our
lasting reverie
Beneath the
shining summer leaves
We danced and
played our melodies
That set our
hearts and spirits free
To love and be
ourselves adored
Until we land on
heaven’s shore
