The Host of the Air
(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.