Living

Riddles (From the Irish)

by Douglas Hyde 1860–1949

From A Book of Irish Verse, ed. W. B. Yeats (1900)

Living

A great, great house it is,
A golden candlestick it is,
Guess it rightly,
Let it not go by thee.
Heaven.

There's a garden that I ken,
Full of little gentlemen,
Little caps of blue they wear,
And green ribbons very fair.
Flax.

He comes to ye amidst the brine
The butterfly of the sun,
The man of the coat so blue and fine,
With red thread his shirt is done.
A Lobster.

You see it come in on the shoulders of men,
Like a thread of the silk it will leave us again.
Turf.

MLA

Hyde, Douglas. “Riddles (From the Irish).” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/hyde/4/.

Chicago

Hyde, Douglas. “Riddles (From the Irish).” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/hyde/4/.

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