The Stolen Child

Come away human child to the water
Come away human child to the water and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understandWhere dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake
There lies the leafy island
Where flapping herons wake the drowsy water rats
There we've hid our faery vats full of berries
And of reddest stolen cherriesCome away, human child to the water
Come away, human child to the water and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understandWhere the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light
Far off by furthest roses, we foot it all the night
Weaving olden dances, mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight
To and fro we leap, chase the frothy bubbles
While the world is full of troubles and is anxious in it's sleepCome away, human child to the water
Come away, human child to the water and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understandWhere the wandering water gushes from the hills above Glen-Car
And pools among the rushes that scarce could bathe a star
We seek for slumbering trout and whispering in their ears
We give them unquiet dreams
Leaning softly out from ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streamsAway with us he's going, the solemn eyed
He'll hear no more the lowing of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob, sing peace into his breast
Or see the brown mice bob around and around the oatmeal chestFor he comes, the human child to the water
He comes, the human child to the water and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand
From a world more full of weeping than you can understandHuman child, human child
With a faery, hand in hand
From a world more full of weeping than you can understand
Than you can understand, you can understand