The Host of the Air Lyrics

(W.B.Yeats)

Dm C(Am) Dm
a O'Driscoll drove with a song
Dm C(Am) Dm
The wild duck and the drake
Dm C Dm
From the tall and the tufted reeds
G Am Dm
Of the drear Hart Lake.

a And he saw how the reeds grew dark
At the coming of night-tide,
And dreamed of the long dim hair
Of Bridget his bride.

Gm C
b He heard while he sang and dreamed
Gm C
A piper piping away,
F G
And never was piping so sad,
Am Dm
And never was piping so gay.

Dm C Dm C
a And he saw young men and young girls
Who danced on a level place,
And Bridget his bride among them,
With a sad and a gay face.

b The dancers crowded about him
And many a sweet thing said,
And a young man brought him red wine
And a young girl white bread.

a But Bridget drew him by the sleeve
Away from the merry bands,
To old men playing at cards
With a twinkling of ancient hands.

b The bread and the wine had a doom,
For these were the host of the air;
He sat and played in a dream
Of her long dim hair.
a He played with the merry old men
And thought not of evil chance,
Until one bore Bridget his bride
Away from the merry dance.

b He bore her away in his arms,
The handsomest young man there,
And his neck and his breast and his arms
Were drowned in her long dim hair.

a O'Driscoll scattered the cards
And out of his dream awoke:
Old men and young men and young girls
Were gone like a drifting smoke;

b But he heard high up in the air
A piper piping away,
F C G
And never was piping so sad,
Am Dm
And never was piping so gay.