A Farewell by George William Russell — Read

I go down from the hills half in gladness, and half with / a pain I depart, / Where the Mother with gentlest breathing made music on lip / and in heart; / For I know that my childhood is over: a call comes out of the vast, / And the love that I had in the old time like beauty in / twilight is past.

I am fired by a Danaan whisper of battles afar in the world, / And my thought is no longer of peace, for the banners in dream / are unfurled, / And I pass from the council of stars and of hills to a life that is new: / And I bid to you stars and you mountains a tremulous long adieu.

I will come once again as a master, who played here as child in my dawn / I will enter the heart of the hills where the gods of the old / world are gone.

And will war like the bright Hound of Ulla with princes of earth / and of sky.

For my dream is to conquer the heavens and battle for kingship on high.