Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Short stories, Irish
Yes, the bridge was done, Lovat knew. A little while ago it was just
the product of his hand and genius and will, a thing of himself. But
now it was a fulfilled entity, with its own duties, its own uses, its
own destiny. Over it went trains joining country to country and sea to
sea. Over it went the loping Latin people. Over it went the little
patient burros, pannier-laden. In confidence all went over it.
"It will stand." Lovat knew. "It will always stand."
But there was no high note of proud achievement in his thought. It
would not stand because of skill in building or strength in masonry.
But because there guarded it one whose pleading sacrificial fingers
would unclench the angry hand of God. Flood and thunder and immense
winds would spare it because of that guardian like a white flame, to
whose unselfishness selfish nature must do reverence.
The official ventured to recall him:
"Excellency!"
"Just one more moment!"
He had a vision of her for the moment, and his throat quivered and his
eyes were uncertain. He saw her in her white, billowing gown, with her
dark head and face like a flower. Two brown shy little children were
standing fearful of the bridge, and she knelt to them. "Come,
darlings," he could hear the deep remembered voice. She led them
confidently across his bridge, and as she led them she smiled to him.
Well, he must go. There was other work to be done, other bridges to
build, until the time the Master of the Masons told him to rest. He
must be about his work.
"All our life is work," he said to himself as he boarded the train.
"All our love is comradeship."
Well, there was work to be done, and there was comradeship. She would
always be with him now, being dead....
IN PRAISE OF LADY MARGERY KYTELER
I
All those things I dreamed about, and I thousands of miles away, are
there still: the house, half farm-house and half castle, at one end an
ancient military tower, at the other a thatched cottage; all the
trees--the ash, the elms, the chestnut with the dark-green foliage and
the prickly bulb containing the polished mahogany fruit, the
rowan-trees with the gallant red berries, bitter as death, the copper
beech with the foliage of lace and the fuzzy brown nuts, the apple- and
pear-trees, and the trees of cherries that the birds do be ever after.
The lawns that were once shaven so closely are now rectangles of high
sweet grass where the bees are seeking. And the tennis-courts, where
once was the laughter of young girls--those, too, are knee-high in
grass, swaying in the soft Irish wind. And here and there is a gallant
yew-tree, blackly green. Roses still cling to the wall, and around all
the walls are riots of flowers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account