Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GRACIE OG MACHREE by JOHN KEEGAN CASEY

First Line: I PLACED THE SILVER IN HER PALM
Last Line: THY NAME, ASTOR MACHREE.
Subject(s): LOVE; DEATH;
I PLACED the silver in her palm
By Inny's smiling tide,
And vowed, ere summer time came on,
To claim her as a bride.
But when the summer time came on
I dwelt beyond the sea;
Yet still my heart is ever true
To Gracie og machree.

O bonnie are the woods of Targ,
And green thy hills, Rathmore,
And soft the sunlight ever falls
On Darre's sloping shore;
And there the eyes I love -- in tears
Shine ever mournfully,
While I am far, and far away
From Gracie og machree.

When battle steeds were neighing loud,
With bright blades in the air,
Next to my inmost heart I wore
A bright tress of her hair.
When stirrup-cups were lifted up
To lips, with soldier glee
One toast I always fondly pledged,
'Twas Gracie og machree.

Oh! I may never, never clasp
Again, her lily hand,
And I may find a soldier's grave
Upon a foreign strand;
But when the heart pulse beats the last,
And death takes hold of me,
One word shall part my dying lips,
Thy name, astor machree.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net