C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Ancient Erse

(Aisling Air Dhreach Mna)

TELL us some of the charms of the stars!—

Close and well set were her ivory teeth;

White as the canna upon the moor

Was her bosom the tartan bright beneath.

Her well-rounded forehead shone

Soft and fair as the mountain-snow:

Her two breasts were heaving full;

To them did the hearts of heroes flow.

Her lips were ruddier than the rose;

Tender and tunefully sweet her tongue;

White as the foam adown her side

Her delicate fingers extended hung.

Smooth as the dusky down of the elk,

Appeared her shady eyebrows to me;

Lovely her cheeks were, like berries red.

From every guile she was wholly free.

Her countenance looked like the gentle buds

Unfolding their beauty in early spring;

Her yellow locks like the gold-browed hills;

And her eyes like the radiance the sunbeams bring.