"The Banshee"- Alice Guerin Crist

As we came down the old boreen,
Rose and I – Rose and I,
At vesper time on Sunday e’en,
We heard a banshee cry!
Beyond the churchyard dim and dark,
‘Neath whispering elms, and yew-trees stark,
Where our star shone-a corpse-like spark-
Against the wintry sky.

We heard and shuddered sick with dread,
Rose and I- Rose and I,
As the shrill keening rang o’erhead
Where cloud-wrack floated high.
Our two young hearts long, sorely tried,
By poverty and love denied
Still waiting for some favouring tide,
And now! Death come so nigh.

‘Which of us two is called away
You or I-You or I?”
I heard my patient poor love say,
With bitter plaintive sigh.
‘Neither, dear girl,” I bravely said,
‘To Mary Mother bow your head,
And cry for help to Her instead,
Nor heed the Banshee’s cry’.

We raised our hearts in fervent prayer,
Rose and I-Rose and I,
Nor knew our troubles ended there,
Our happiness came nigh.
For ‘twas the grim old farmer, he-
My only kin, rich, miserly,
Who, dying left his wealth to me-
For whom the banshee cried.

-Alice Guerin Crist (1876-1941)

http://www.usq.edu.au/pmrc/literaryhistory/writers/crist

 

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

Links to 2010 & 2009 Athenaeum Halloween posts:

"Hallowe'en in a Suburb"/Classics from the Crypt-

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/the_athenaeum/2010/10/halloween-in-a-suburbclassics-from-the-crypt.html

A Bit of Halloween History, Poetry, Music, & Ephemera-

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/the_athenaeum/2009/10/a-bit-of-halloween-history-poetry-music-ephemera.html

 

-Maureen Lang

 

Comments

[Meredith Axelrod]

Thanks for the link, but where are this years classics from yr crypt? I miss listening to them. We are still at the Cafe Divine and now you live closer than ever. Why don't you two come up and have a listen sometime soon. Mere

[Maureen Lang]

Mere,

Thanks for commenting- John & I would love to come up to see you & Craig, probably around Thanksgiving wknd.

Here's a compilation of the '09 & '10's Classics from the Crypt playlists (links for youtube performances can be found in the post above), with a couple of new pieces added for Halloween 2011:

Night on Bald Mountain- Mussorgsky (superb 1940 Disney animated version)
Danse Macabre- Saint-Saens
Mephisto Waltz- Liszt
The Sorcerer's Apprentice- Dukas (also from Disney's Fantasia)
Funeral March of a Marionette- Gounod (interesting stop-motion playlet)
The Witches' Ride from Hansel & Gretel- Humperdinck
Nuages Gris- Franz Liszt
Toccata (from Suite Gothique)- L. Boellman
Pluto, Lord of the Underworld (from The Planets)- Gustav Holst
L'Escalier du Diable- Gyorgy Ligeti
Catacombs (from Pictures at an Exhibition)- Mussorgsky
March to the Scaffold (from Symphonie Fantastique)- Hector Berlioz
Infernal Dance (from the Firebird Suite)- Igor Stravinsky
Toccata & Fugue in D Minor (youtube clip from Disney's Fantasia, 1940)- J.S. Bach

Eve of All Hallows 2011:

Vox Balaenae- George Crumb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6IWoHguF4o

Dies Irae- Wolfgang Mozart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARO7ZjsXSkE

Marche Funebre- Frederic Chopin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgw_RD_1_5I

Carmina Burana (O Fortuna)- Carl Orff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9eEwsGPf3s

[Panaman]

Another great Halloween post, Maureen. Keep 'em coming. That pic is the yard decor at your new house I hope.

Happy Halloween.

Panaman

[Maureen Lang]

Panaman,

Glad you are enjoying the annual Halloween posts.

I'd love to have a spiffy set up like my friend Hi-Rez, whose yard photo that is above. Since we very recently moved upstate, no yard haunt for us this year, just some simple window decorations & lighting. But next year, look out SLO County!

Hope you have an enjoyable Halloween.

[Craig V.]

Great post, Maureen. Have you mastered the Ligeti Devil's Staircase piece yet??

See you at Thanksgiving!

Craig V.

[Maureen Lang]

In my dreams I play the Ligeti extremely well, Craig, almost as well as you could bang it out on an acoustic. When I wake up, eh, not so much.

Happy Halloween & see you in November.

[Dave Williams]

Happy Halloween to you too, Maureen!

[Shirley Bolton]

Now we know what a boreen is. Thanks for that information! Wish you were here because Robert has the whole yard and porch decorated with jack-o-lanterns for the kids.

Shirley

[Maureen Lang]

Shirley,

I'd love to be in Charlotte visiting you two right now! I know Robert always does an amazing job carving those pumpkins. John will be going to Mason's Hot Rods Cruise-In this year down in Spartanburg. Hope you all can hook up for lunch/dinner/some time together. I'll tell him to email Robert about it.

Have a lovely evening handing out all that candy on Halloween!

[Dennis Marchant]

Was on a decompression camping trip after that location in Chi-town, so didn't see your post until now. I love this poem. Thanks for the memories. Kiwi