A Faery Song

Now this day was fun, we show up, there was homemade food and dessert. We learned some new songs while we ate in the living room and chatted it up. I've had the assignment to recite poetry for a while and what better place to do it then at the birthday party of one of the greatest English teachers. Ellie recited her poem first and then I did, it was definitely a spur of the moment type of scenario. Thinking back to the moment, it makes sense that we did the recitation when we did. Who other than Dr. Reed would recite poetry at their birthday party? I did the poem "A Faery Song" by W.B. Yeats and I chose this because one of my favorite aspects of Irish culture is the myths and lore surrounding most everything. The poem goes: 

                                        We who are old, old and gay,

                                        O so old!

                                        Thousands of years, thousands of years,

                                        If all were told:

                                        Give to these children, new from the world,

                                        Silence and love;

                                        And the long dew-dropping hours of the night,

                                        And the stars above:

                                        Give to these children, new from the world,

                                        Rest far from men.

                                        Is anything better, anything better?

                                        Tell us it then:

                                        Us who are old, old and gay,

                                        O so old!

                                        Thousands of years, thousands of years,

                                         If all were told.

This poem as I previously mention tells a tale and other than tales one of my favorite methods of storytelling is songs which is one of the ways this poem is typically recited. The poem is about fairy's singing a song over the burial monument of Diarmuid and Grania and ask for them to rest, away from human life. It's a very flowy poem and I was happy to recite it in a happy place, during a special event.