| Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922. |
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| 157. A Farewell |
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| By A. E. |
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| I GO down from the hill in gladness, and half with a pain I depart, | |
| Where the Mother with gentlest breathing made music on lip and in heart; | |
| For I know that my childhood is over: a call comes out of the vast, | |
| And the love that I had in the old time, like beauty in twilight, is past. | |
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| I am fired by a Danaan whisper of battles afar in the world, | 5 |
| And my thought is no longer of peace, for the banners in dream are unfurled, | |
| And I pass from the council of stars and of hills to a life that is new: | |
| And I bid to you stars and you mountains a tremulous long adieu. | |
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| I will come once again as a master, who played here as a child in my dawn; | |
| I will enter the heart of the hills where the gods of the old world are gone. | 10 |
| And will war like the bright Hound of Ulla with princes of earth and of sky. | |
| For my dream is to conquer the heavens and battle for kingship on high. | |
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