Poems MacCarthy, Florence Denis
Poems MacCarthy, Florence Denis
Poems MacCarthy, Florence Denis
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77<br />
With such an easy effort that it seemed<br />
As if he scarcely deigned to shake him off.<br />
Then, as he lay, a strange distortion came<br />
Upon Cuchullin; as a bladder swells<br />
Inflated by the breath, to such a size<br />
And fulness did he grow, that he became<br />
A fearful, many-coloured, wondrous Tuaig--<br />
Gigantic shape, as big as a man of the sea,<br />
Or monstrous Fomor, so that now his form<br />
In perfect height over Ferdiah stood.<br />
So close the fight was now, that their heads met<br />
Above, their feet below, their arms half-way<br />
Over the rims and bosses of their shields:--<br />
So close the fight was now, that from their rims<br />
Unto their centres were their shields cut through,<br />
And loosed was every rivet from its hold;<br />
So close the fight was now, that their strong spears<br />
Were turned and bent and shivered point and haft;<br />
Such was the closeness of the fight they made<br />
That the invisible and unearthly hosts<br />
Of Spirits, Bocanachs and Bananachs,<br />
And the wild wizard people of the glen<br />
And of the air the demons, shrieked and screamed<br />
From their broad shields' reverberating rim,<br />
From their sword-hilts and their long-shafted spears:<br />
Such was the closeness of the fight they made,<br />
They forced the river from its natural course,<br />
Out of its bed, so that it might have been<br />
A couch whereon a king or queen might lie,<br />
For not a drop of water it retained,<br />
Except what came from the great tramp and splash<br />
Of the two heroes fighting in its midst.<br />
Such was the fierceness of the fight they waged,<br />
That a wild fury seized upon the steeds<br />
The Gaels had gathered with them; in affright<br />
They burst their traces and their binding ropes,<br />
Nay even their chains, and panting fled away.<br />
The women, too, and youths, by equal fears<br />
Inspired and scared, and all the varied crowd