Book Reviews and More: JohnIrvine

A Voice in the Dusk Lyrics

Willow Leaves: Lyrics in the Manner of the Early Chinese Poets

Two Poems

Voces Intimae

…

Edited by John Irvine:

The Flowering Branch: An Anthology of Irish Poetry Past and Present

The Poems of Robert Burns

The Poems of Robert Louis Stevenson

The Poems of Tennyson

The Poems of Thomas Moore

…

Saturday, 7 March 2026

The Flowering Branch: An Anthology of Irish Poetry Past and Present - Edited by John Irvine

The Flowering Branch:

An Anthology of Irish Poetry Past and Present

John Irvine - Editor (1903-1965)

Derrick MacCord

Belfast

1945

The Flowering Branch: An Anthology of Irish Poetry Past and Present - Edited by John Irvine

First I am thankful to the National Library of Ireland and their scanning service. Without which I would have read but one volume from this excellent Irish poet. I appreciate that they will scan out of print and out of copyright works. Especially when I cannot find them almost anywhere else, like most of the works or Irvine. This volume will mark the thirteenth I have read by Irvine.

About the author on a site with information about Irish authors states:

Another online description of the author states:

The introduction to this collection states:

“This is a brief survey of Irish poetry past and present, including a few translations from the Irish. It will be realized how difficult is the attempt to cover such a wide field in so small a volume.

As in ·all anthologies there are notable omissions, for this I make humble apology, and plead that the restrictions were many and the space at my disposal very limited. It is hoped, however, that this small volume may prove of value as an introduction to Irish poetry, for those not already familiar with its. delights.”

This volume is dedicated to his mother with these words:

“These flowers of my gathering are

offered as a small token for life·

long devotion and kindness.”

The poems and contributors in this volume are:

A Blessing on the Cows – Seumas O’Sullivan

A Sigh for Knockmany – William Carleton

A White Rose – John Boyle O’Reilly

And Then No More - James Clarence Mangan

At Mass – Robin Flower

Cashel of Munster – Edward Walsh

Clonmacnoise – T.W. Rolleston

Dark Rosaleem - James Clarence Mangan

Dirge of the Munster Forest, 1591 – Hon Emily Lawless

Do You Remember that Night? – George Petrie

Dreamy, Gloomy, Friendly Trees – Herbert Trench

Fathers and Sons – F.R. Higgins

Gone in the Wind - James Clarence Mangan

Hy-Brasail – Gerard Griffin

I See His Blood Upon the Rose – Joseph Mary Plunkett

It Is Not Beauty I Demand – George Darley

Lady Margaret’s Song – Edward Dowden

Lyric – John Hewitt

Mairi – John Irvine

Marie, My Girl – John Keegan Casey

My Hope My Love – Edward Walsh

Night Wind – A.E. George Russell

Non Dolet – Oliver St. J. Gogarty

O Dreamy, Gloomy, Friendly Trees – Herbert Trench

Ode – Arthur O’Shaughnessy

Pearl of the White Beast – George Petrie

Pulse of My Heart – Charlotte Brooke

Remembrance – Emily Bronte

Since Celia’s My Foe – Thomas Duffett

The Banks of Banna - Hon. George Ogle

The Blackbird of Derrycairn … - Austin Clarke

The Church of a Dream – Lionel Johnson

The Fair Warning – George Darley

The Farewell to My Harp – Thomas Moore

The Goat Paths – James Stephens

The Harbour – W.M. Letts

The Lake – Richard Rowley

The Lapful of Nuts – Sir Samuel Ferguson

The Little Black Rose – Aubrey De Vere

The Little Waves of Breffny – Eva Gore-Booth

The Maid of Elfin-Mere – William Allingham

The Old Woman of the Roads – Padrick Colum

The Outlaw of Lough Lene – J.J. “Jeremiah Joseph” Callanan

The Priests and the Friars – Douglas Hyde

The River – Patrick MacDonogh

The Rock of Cashel – Sir Aubrey De Vere

The Silence of Unlaboured Fields – Joseph Campbell

The Stars Stand Up – Eleanor Hull

There is More Beauty – Sydney Bell

Thomas MacDonagh – Joseph Mary Plunkett

Virgin Gold – Sylvia Lynd

When You Are Old – W.B. Yeats

The table of contents is arranged based on the name of the authors. But the edition I had scanned was missing at least 2 pages from the contents. I manually created the list above.

This is the first volume I have read that was edited by John Irvine. I have read 13 volumes that were written by Irvine, and believe that there are another 5 volumes edited by Irvine, including the earliest written or edited by him published under the name J. Pennington Irvine.

A few sample poems from this volume are:

THE CHURCH OF A DREAM

Sadly the dead leaves rustle in the
whistling wind,
Around the weather-worn, grey
church, low down the vale:
The Saints in golden vesture shake
before the gale;
The glorious windows shake, where
still they dwell enshrined;
Old Saints by long dead, shrivelled
hands, long since designed:
There still, although the world
autumnal be, and pale,
Still in their golden vesture the old
Saints prevail;
Alone with Christ, desolate else,
left by mankind.
Only one ancient priest offers · the
Sacrifice,
Murmuring holy Latin immemorial:
Swaying with tremulous hands the
old · censer full of spice,
In grey, sweet incense _clouds; blue,
sweet clouds mystical:
To him, in place of men, for he is
old, suffice
Melancholy remembrances and
vesperal.

-Lionel Johnson

O DREAMY, GLOOMY,

FRIENDLY TREES.

O dreamy gloomy, friendly Trees,

I came along your narrow track ·

To bring my gifts unto your knees

And gifts did you give back;

For when I brought this heart that

burns-

These thoughts that bitterly

repine-

And laid them here among the

ferns

And the hum of boughs divine,

Ye, vastest breathers of the air,

Shook down with slow and

mighty poise

Your coolness on the human care,

Your wonder on its toys

Your greenness on the heart's

despair,

Your darkness on its noise.

- Herbert Trench

MAIRI

Unquiet my heart
When she is near,
As the woods
In the young year.
Wilder my thoughts
Than birds that soar
In blue air
By the lake shore .
Would she but hear
The songs I made
By the brook
In the hazel glade.
Oh! heart be still
And let her pass
As grey mist
On the sweet grass.
And dream of her
With the dark eyes,
When stars come
And a wind cries.

- JOHN IRVINE.

I hope those three poems give you a feel for the collection of 52. This is an interesting collection. A few hit at the Faith of the Irish, and a few pay tribute to nature. A few go full on Song of Solomon, in their praise of the female, and her form.

I did really enjoy this volume. The National Library of Ireland provided a scanned copy as the book is out of print and out of copyright. It is interesting to see what poems Irvine collected, and having read much of his lately, many could have been by his pen. I only recognize a few of the contributors. And as such was pleasantly surprised by many of the poems. We are not given bios of the contributors, nor even hen the pieces were first published. I would have appreciated those details. It is a volume I know I will return to again!

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2026 Catholic Reading Plan!

Books by John Irvine:

A Voice in the Dusk Lyrics

Willow Leaves: Lyrics in the Manner of the Early Chinese Poets

Two Poems

Voces Intimae

…

Edited by John Irvine:

The Flowering Branch: An Anthology of Irish Poetry Past and Present

The Poems of Robert Burns

The Poems of Robert Louis Stevenson

The Poems of Tennyson

The Poems of Thomas Moore

…

Wednesday, 25 February 2026

By Winding Roads - John Irvine and William Conor

By Winding Roads

John Irvine (1903-1965)

William Conor R.H.A., R.O.I. (Illustrator)

H.R. Carter Publications, Ltd.

Belfast

1950

First I am thankful to the National Library of Ireland and their scanning service. Without wich I would have read but one volume from this excellent Irish poet. I appreciate that they will scan out of print and out of copyright works. Especially when I cannot find them almost anywhere else, like most of the works or Irvine. This volume will mark the thirteenth I have read by Irvine.

I stumbled upon this author. I was reading one of the Vision Books for young readers, Irish Saints by Robert T. Reilly, and there was an excerpt of a poem from A Treasury of Irish Saints A Book of Poems. It was really intriguing and after reading that first volume I made it a mission to try and track down everything Irvine published. At first my dyslexia had me thinking it was John Irving, and I have read a few of his fiction books. But some quick searching put that idea to rest. This author John Irvine lived from 1903-1965. This volume was originally published in1941.

About the author on a site with information about Irish authors states:

Another online description of the author states:

This volume has no preamble quote, or preface likes some of the others. The poems in this volume are:

Over the Hills and Far Away

Tullymore

Little Boats

Rivers

Woodland Music

Three Little Towns

Townlands

Searching for Fairies

The Old Man from Kilkenny

Roaming

The Dancers

Harvest

Music

The Fairy Hill

In Old Donegal

Irish Names

The Fairy Tree

In Ballysadare

The Travellers

The Ladies of Doon

The Farm Horses

The Nine Glens

Working

The Irish Counties

The Crow

In Summer Time

Twilight

Portglenone

Topsy Turvy

The Pl'Ovinces

The Girls of Dingle

The Fiddler 21

The Meaning of Names

Blarney

Elderberries

Winds

Ireland's Eye

The Winter Night

Ireland

Goodbye

Before that first poem named in the index we have:

“IRELAND

There is great beauty in the Irish names

That fall like music on the listening ear

And breed a deep~ felt love that never wanes

In hearts of exiles gone for many a year.

Some little county each shall claim his own

And love it's every field and stream and

hill,

Remembering the sweet days he has known

And keep undimmed the love of Ireland

still.”

Which is listed as page vii, the next page is listed as page one. Then at the end of the volume we have page 24 then page ix that has the poem ‘Goodbye’. I am not sure if these characteristics are a mishap in printing, or an artistic embellishment.

I enjoyed this thirteenth volume of poems that I have read from the pen of Irvine. The one bio above mentions 6 collections of poems but I have found a total of 17, including some special editions listed below, and also 6 volumes Irvine edited of other poems including the earliest published as J. Pennington Irvine. A few sample poems from this volume are:

RIVERS

The Liffey flows through Dublin town

And Cork is on the Lee,

The Shannon winds through meadowlands

Of Limerick to the sea.

The Foyle through Derry winds its way,

The Lagan through Belfast,

And men in Tipperary watch

The Suir go gently past.

The Boyne by ancient Drogheda

Flows tranquilly and free,

And that is but a few of them,

Enough for you and me.

But there are many more besides,

North, South, East and West,

So get your map of Ireland out

And try to find the rest.

WOODLAND MUSIC

The blackbird sings at morning

When dew is on the spray

The thrush in sunny weather

Gives all his notes away.

The merry lark upsoaring

Above the fields at noon,

But only nightingales will tell

Their secrets to the moon.

THE TRAVELLERS

Forty miles to Drogheda

And fifty to Dundalk,

Some will go on jaunting cars,

And some will only talk,

But we'll step out along the road

And walk and walk and walk.

Some will carry little lamps

In case the shadows fall,

And some will nearly fall asleep

The lazy ones and small,

And some will dream by candlelight

And never go at all.

THE FARM HORSES

At evening when the work is done

They gt'aze contented, in the sun,

And wander· in the.pleasant heat

Whe.t·e fancy leads, and gtass is sweet.

Or toss their heads and gallop wild

Along the fields, like any child

Who runs and leaps and shouts and sings

For freedom, and the joy of things.

Or stand knee-deep in cooling streams!

think they too have got their dreams

Of sunny mornings, when the breeze

Is humming in the willow trees.

Of splendid days, and cloudless skies,

Far from the harness, and from flies,

In pastu1'es whel'e a beast may be

Free of his load eternally.

I hope those four poems give you a feel for the collection. The poems vary from one stanza to four; all poems are contained on single page, and many pages have 2 poems per page. Some pages have an image, a total of 4 black and white images are interspersed in the volume. And the cover is colour with a zoomed out version of it on the facing paged to the title page. Each of the pieces of artwork is on a left-hand side of 2 facing pages. The artwork appears to be woodcuts. At the back of this volume about the author we are informed:

“JOHN IRVINE, author of eight books of verse and a contributor to leading literary magazines in Britain and America. His work has appeared twice in "Best Poems of the Year" and has been broadcast frequently by the B.B.C. and by Radio Eireann.”

About the artist:

“It has been written of WILLIAM CONOR that he cannot draw the slightest figure without endowing it with life and energy, nor without filling it with a revealing power that makes the onlooker a sharer in the secrets 'of the life concealed behind the passing record.”

I really enjoyed this volume, once I finally received a copy. The National Library of Ireland has 4 copies of this in its collection. And all 4 appear to be kept offsite based on catalogue notes. It is much more playful and jovial than the other collections I have read from Irvine’s pen. I am thankful I read it; it is another volume of poetry from Irvine that I really connected with. If you can track down a copy to read I can easily recommend it. And it is a volume I know I will return to again!

By Winding Roads - John Irvine - Sample 1

By Winding Roads - John Irvine - Sample 2

By Winding Roads - John Irvine - Sample 3

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2026 Catholic Reading Plan!

Books by John Irvine:

A Voice in the Dusk Lyrics

Willow Leaves: Lyrics in the Manner of the Early Chinese Poets

Two Poems

Voces Intimae

…

Edited by John Irvine:

The Flowering Branch: An Anthology of Irish Poetry Past and Present

The Poems of Robert Burns

The Poems of Robert Louis Stevenson

The Poems of Tennyson

The Poems of Thomas Moore

…

Thursday, 19 February 2026

Fountain Of Hellas Poems From The Greek Anthology - John Irvine

Fountain Of Hellas:

Poems From The Greek Anthology Attempted in English Verse

John Irvine (1903-1965)

Leslie Owen Bacter (Illustrator)

Derrick MacCord

Belfast

1943

Fountain Of Hellas Poems From The Greek Anthology - John Irvine

When I first encountered the title of this volume I assumed it was an anthology edited by Irvine. It was only after I received a copy from the National Library of Ireland that I realized it was a collection of poems written in the Greek style. Therefor it is much like Willow Leaves: Lyrics in the Manner of the Early Chinese Poets, where John wrote a collection in a specific style.

This volume will mark the twelfth I have read by Irvine. I stumbled upon this author. I was reading one of the Vision Books for young readers, specifically Irish Saints by Robert T. Reilly, and there was an excerpt of a poem from A Treasury of Irish Saints A Book of Poems. It was really intriguing and after reading that first volume I made it a mission to try and track down everything Irvine published. At first my dyslexia had me thinking it was John Irving, and I have read a few of his fiction books. But some quick searching put that idea to rest. This author John Irvine lived from 1903-1965. This volume was originally published in1941.

About the author on a site with information about Irish authors states:

Another online description of the author states:

This book begins with a dedication which states:

"TO RICHARD ROWLEY who found Helicon in the goodly lands of Mourne : With affectionate regard, and enduring friendship I inscribe these verses.”

There is also an acknowledgements that states:

“I wish to thank sincerely the following whose scholarly advice and guidance has been of the greatest value to me in the creation of this little book: Sir Richard Livingstone, Mr. Seumas O'Sullivan , Professor T. A. Sinclair, Mr. 0. E. Rudnitsky, and Mr. Dermot O'Neill. My thanks are also due to Mr. L. 0. Baxter for the illustrations, and to the editor of "The Irish Times," for permission to reprint "A Dead Child" which first appeared in the columns of that paper.”

The preface states states:

“It is with true humility that I publish these verses. To my sorrow I have no Greek, but have ever been imbued with admiration for that noble and heroic people, and their imperishable literature. Many poets with scholarship equal to the task have given us translations from the classic language, and often things of exquisite beauty . . . Be mine then a small voice without the portals. One who makes a humble attempt to render into English verse a few jewels from the treasury of Hellenic song.”

The preface was written in 1943 in the spring. The poems in this volume are:

The Garland

The Poet's Ascent

A Millionaire

CONTENTS

On An Inn at Cibyra

The Simple Life

Enduring Wealth

The Beautiful Aster

The End of Beauty

Heliodora's Wreath

A Bower

Plato The Harpist

A Dead Child

A Dead Wife

Love the Brigand

An Illiterate

The Unfairness of Wine

A Gourmand

A Bumper

On a Dead Slave

A Dead Virgin

A Dead Christian

Erinna

Anacreon

A Dead Herdsman

A Poet

To A Virgin

Astronomy

On Gossip

The Pastoral Pipe

Heraclitus

I enjoyed this twelfth volume of poems that I have read from the pen of Irvine. The one bio above mentions 6 collections of poems but I have found a total of 17, including some special editions listed below, and also 6 volumes Irvine edited of other poems including the earliest published as J. Pennington Irvine. A few sample poems from this volume are:

THE POET'S ASCENT

(after Honestus)

Thy limbs were wearied in the great ascent;

Low waned the moon in many a sleepless dawn;

But nectar from the springs of Pegasus

Sustained thee on the slopes of Helicon.

Poets have many a broken road to climb,

But if at last thy footsteps reach the crest

Drink of the chalice proffered by the gods

And feel immortal lips on cheek and breast.

ENDURING WEALTH

(after Crates of Thebes)

True wealth is culture: it shall perish not.

Age gives to age the flower of its thought,

The learning that I had I still retain

And that nobility the Muses taught.

But all my rich possessions, where are they?

Lost with the vanities of yesterday.

THE END OF BEAUTY

(after Strata)

If thou be boastful of thy beauty,

Remember that the rose is fair:

But all too soon the ruined petals

Are scattered in the morning air.

So seasons change and summer passes

And youth has but a little hour,

For time the envious claims his tribute

And beauty passes like a flower.

A DEAD CHILD

(after Zonas of Sardis)

Shadowy Charon, pitiful of woe

On thy dark barge that bears the veiled dead

When o'er the dark and reedy lakes you row,

Look kindly on the child's bewildered head.

When as thou sailest through the starless night

Ploughing the lonely water, still and deep,

With gentleness 0 comfort him I pray-

The infant son of Cinyras, if he weep.

And when at last you reach the silent land

And from the dearth of water lift thine oar,

In mercy stretch a hand to him and see

His little feet safe on the sandy shore.

I hope those four poems give you a feel for the collection. In many ways it feels very different his other works. The poems vary from one stanza to a few; all poems are contained on single page, with an image on the facing page. The artwork is in a Greek style but appear to be woodcuts. I reread the volume after I finished it, for each of the other 11 volumes I have read received 5/5 stars but even after a second reading I only give this one a 4. It was not as enjoyable. I am not sure if that is from the constraining in trying to write in the Greek style, or the subjects employed because of that. I am thankful I read it I just read did not connect with it the same way I did with Irvine’s other poetry.

Fountain Of Hellas Poems From The Greek Anthology - John Irvine - Sample 1

Fountain Of Hellas Poems From The Greek Anthology - John Irvine - Sample 2

Fountain Of Hellas Poems From The Greek Anthology - John Irvine - Sample 3

Fountain Of Hellas Poems From The Greek Anthology - John Irvine - Sample 4

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2026 Catholic Reading Plan!

Books by John Irvine:

A Voice in the Dusk Lyrics

Willow Leaves: Lyrics in the Manner of the Early Chinese Poets

Two Poems

Voces Intimae

…

Edited by John Irvine:

The Flowering Branch: An Anthology of Irish Poetry Past and Present

The Poems of Robert Burns

The Poems of Robert Louis Stevenson

The Poems of Tennyson

The Poems of Thomas Moore

…

Thursday, 12 February 2026

Selected Poems - John Irvine

Selected Poems

John Irvine (1903-1965)

The Arden Press

Belfast

1948

This volume will mark the eleventh volume of poems I have read by Irvine. I stumbled upon this author. I was reading one of the Vision Books for young readers, Irish Saints by Robert T. Reilly, and there was an excerpt of a poem from A Treasury of Irish Saints A Book of Poems. It was really intriguing and after reading that first volume I made it a mission to try and track down everything Irvine published. At first my dyslexia had me thinking it was John Irving, and I have read a few of his fiction books. But some quick searching put that idea to rest. This author John Irvine lived from 1903-1965. This volume was originally published in 1948.

About the author on a site with information about Irish authors states:

Another online description of the author states:

This volume is different than the other ten I have read. It is a collection of poems all drawn from other volumes. The other volumes, year of print and number of poems from them are:

A Voice in the Dusk, 1932 – 11 Poems

Winds From the South, 1936 – 15 Poems

Willow Leaves, 1942 – 15 Poems

Nocture, 1943 – 14 Poems

From Fountain of Hellas, 1944 – 13 Poems

With No Changed Voice, 1956 – 25 Poems

Voces Intimae – 12 Poems

The volume Voces Intimae does not have a date so I wonder if it was forthcoming at the time of publication of this volume. There is a large acknowledgments at the beginning of the volume:

“I wish to tender my sincere thanks to the editors of the following publications for permissiqn to reprint poems which first appeared in their pages : "The Best Poems of 1938", "The Best Poems of 1942", "Northern Harvest", "The Cornhill", "Country Life", "The Argosy", " Chambers's Journal", " Hellas ", " The Dublin Magazine", "The Irish Times", "The Irish Independent", "The Irish Weekly Independent", "Lagan", "The Northman", "T he New York HeraldTribune" and the American poetry magazines "Wings" and "The Lyric".

I am also indebted to the following publishers : The Quota Press, Belfast; Wm. Mullan & Sons, Belfast; The Orwell Press, Dublin; The Talhot Press, Dublin; The Runa Press, Dublin; The Three Candles Press, Dublin; Mr. G. Morrow, and to Messrs. Boosey & Co. Ltd., for permission to reprint "·Spring" and "In the Faery Hills'' which first appeared in the song cycle "A Voice in the Dusk", the musical setting by C. Armstrong Gibbs. The poem "Highways and Byways" appears in this collection by the courtesy of The Ulster Tourist Association.”

But there is no mention or explanation for Voces Intimae. Each section has the original Title Page and Dedication before the selected poems. As such the sections and poems in this volume are:

From "A Voice in the Dusk''

Enchantment

To One Gone Hence

Quest

Sanctuary

Nightfall

Pity

Three Cinquains

The Lovers

I Could Have Loved Thee

Invocation

Last Night's Wind

From "Wind from the South"

Sorrow In Spring

Heartsease

To The Unfaithful Beloved

Captive

Canticle Of Spring

Four Cinquains

Song -

Evensong -

The Prisoner

Moon Magic

Leavetaking

In The Mournes

Night Piece

The Quiet Night

Unending Quest

From "Willow Leaves"

(Poems in the manner of the early Chinese poets)

Tu Li-Po

Nocturne

Dusk

We Are As Dust

The Sorrow Of Ming Huang

Spring

To Yuan (In The South)

The Soldiers

The Dancing Girl

Impatient For The Spring

Meeting With Friends

Music At Dusk

Cheng

Farewell

From "Nocturne"

Chopin

Trees

At The Coming Of Night

October

By A Riverside

Mairi

All Lovely Things

The Island

Craigey Woods

Spring

Jean

In The Faery Hills

Migration

Valediction

From "The Fountain of Hellas," 1944

(Adaptations from the Greek Anthology)

The Grecian Garland

The Poet' S Ascent

Enduring Wealth

The End Of Beauty

A Bower

A Dead Child

The Unfairness Of Wine

A Bumper

Erinna

A Dead Herdsman

To A Virgin

Astronomy

The Pastoral Pipe

From "With No Changed Voice"

Song

The Swans -

The Throstle

To A Blackbird -

Lines Addressed To A Great Artist

Lyric

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi -

The Undying Dream -

London Sketches

A Lost Cause

Beyond

Sibelius

Dark Red Roses

Sea-Haunted

Hellas

The Mother

Carrowdore

The Barley Field

The Changeling

Faery

To One Grown Old

Restless Woods

Night

The Heart Remembers Morning

Vale

Voces Intimae

Romance

To A Poet In Early Youth

The Rebuke

Highways And Byways

Padraig

Winter Sorrow

April

The Burden Of Unrest

Invocation In Winter

Pastoral

Lebanon

Transience

I will only share a few poems from that final section as I have shared three poems from each of the other volumes when I have reviewed them. This section begins with this quote:

“The waves of the sea have spoken to me; the wild birds have taught me; the music of many waters has been my master.”

-Kalevala

This final section is dedicated to W.H. Conn. Three sample poems from this section are:

TO A POET IN EARLY YOUTH

Poet, listen while I speak

Now that youth is on your cheek,

And the dream within your eyes,

Tell me all the ancient lies.

Tell me you have found love fair

You who have not known despair.

Tell me life is kind and sweet

You who have not known defeat.

Tell me of unclouded years

You who know not bitter tears.

Poet, you are dreaming yet

Things that gladly I forget.

Listen poet once again,

Songs like yours are sung in vain.

Such unquestioning belief

Ends in bitterness or grief.

Youth is ecstasy but blind.

Life will teach you, you will find,

That above our puny sighs

Each slow dusk the J?leiads rise,

And behind his prison bars

Man looks upward to the stars.

Each day that dawns, each sun that sets

Brings its yearnings and regrets,

But wisdom draws the veils aside.

Then the eyes are opened wide,

And suddenly the truth will ring

In every stanza that you sing . . .

And may be when a long time dead

Your verse will be admired and read.

I who keep a silent tongue

Once felt like you, when I was young,

And loved the beautiful and true,

But then, I was a poet too.

HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS

Meadows I love, and orchards and tall trees,

The little burns that sparkle and are bright,

And fields of barley in the sunny breeze,

And curlew calling in the dim half-light.

Old villages that lie among the hills,

The lonely glens and rivers that are slow,

The fuchsia hedges, and the fairy thorns,

And cottage doorways where the roses blow.

The little fields of Antrim and of Down,

The mountain paths and woodlands by the sea,

The rocky headlands and the sheltered bays,

And moorlands where the winds are blowing free.

The dusty· roads are waiting for our feet,

The country inns and many a leafy lane,

Oh come then, for the sake of old desire

And walk with me the Irish roads again.

WINTER SORROW

Even if the heart be numb with grief

There will be sweet days c0me again,

Of daffodil and fluttering leaf,

Of bird song and the silver rain.

Of childrens' voices and the sun,

Of whispering winds and twilights grey,

And quiet peace when day is done

And memories of yesterday.

The well-loved hills eternal stand,

White in the moon the meadows lie;

In life and death we are at one

With wind, and sun, and earth, and sky.

This final section is the only volume I am not able to track down in some library around the world. And I do not know if it was ever published. This collection was published 17 years before Irvine passed, so I do hope to track it down some day. I enjoyed this eleventh collection of poems that I have read from the pen of Irvine.

I was able to track down a copy of this thanks to the National Library of Ireland. The NLI has all volumes I have found written by Irvine and 5 of the 8 edited by him; which I will now be tracking down to review. I am now trying to hunt the remaining volumes down. These poems were very enjoyable, and I am certain they would be to you as well, if you give them a chance. It is the largest collection of Irvin’s work.

If you can track down a copy to read it is well worth it! Another great collection of poems I can easily recommend it.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2026 Catholic Reading Plan!

Books by John Irvine:

A Voice in the Dusk Lyrics