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.