12. The Host of the Air (W.B.Yeats)

         Dm          C(Am)   Dm
a  O'Driscoll drove with a song
       Dm         C(Am)    Dm
   The wild duck and the drake
             Dm           C      Dm
   From the tall and the tufted reeds
             G   Am   Dm
   Of the drear Hart Lake. 

a  And he saw how the reeds grew dark
   At the coming of night-tide,
   And dreamed of the long dim hair
   Of Bridget his bride. 

        Gm                      C
b  He heard while he sang and dreamed
       Gm           C
   A piper piping away,
         F                  G
   And never was piping so sad,
         Am                  Dm
   And never was piping so gay. 

Dm C Dm C


a  And he saw young men and young girls
   Who danced on a level place,
   And Bridget his bride among them,
   With a sad and a gay face. 

b  The dancers crowded about him
   And many a sweet thing said,
   And a young man brought him red wine
   And a young girl white bread. 

a  But Bridget drew him by the sleeve
   Away from the merry bands,
   To old men playing at cards
   With a twinkling of ancient hands. 

b  The bread and the wine had a doom,
   For these were the host of the air;
   He sat and played in a dream
   Of her long dim hair. 

a  He played with the merry old men
   And thought not of evil chance,
   Until one bore Bridget his bride
   Away from the merry dance. 

b  He bore her away in his arms,
   The handsomest young man there,
   And his neck and his breast and his arms
   Were drowned in her long dim hair. 

a  O'Driscoll scattered the cards
   And out of his dream awoke:
   Old men and young men and young girls
   Were gone like a drifting smoke; 

b  But he heard high up in the air
   A piper piping away,
         F    C   G
   And never was piping so sad,
         Am             Dm
   And never was piping so gay.