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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MAIRGREAD NI CHEALLEADH by EDWARD WALSH

Poem Explanation

First Line: AT THE DANCE IN THE VILLAGE
Last Line: AND MAIRGREAD NI CHEALLEADH.
AT the dance in the village
Thy white foot was fleetest;
Thy voice 'mid the concert
Of maidens was sweetest;
The swell of thy white breast
Made rich lovers follow;
And thy raven hair bound them,
Young Mairgread ni Chealleadh.

Thy neck was, lost maid,
Than the ceanabhan whiter,
And the glow of thy cheek
Than the monadan brighter;
But death's chain hath bound thee,
Thine eye's glazed and hollow,
That shone like a sunburst,
Young Mairgread ni Chealleadh.

No more shall mine ear drink
Thy melody swelling;
Nor thy beamy eye brighten
The outlaw's dark dwelling;
Or thy soft heaving bosom
My destiny hallow,
When thine arms twine around me,
Young Mairgread ni Chealleadh.

The moss couch I brought thee
To-day from the mountain,
Has drank the last drop
Of thy young heart's red fountain --
For this good skian beside me
Struck deep and rung hollow
In thy bosom of treason,
Young Mairgread ni Chealleadh.

With strings of rich pearls
Thy white neck was laden,
And thy fingers with spoils
Of the Sassanach maiden:
Such rich silks enrob'd not
The proud dames of Mallow --
Such pure gold they wore not
As Mairgread ni Chealleadh.

Alas! that my loved one
Her outlaw would injure --
Alas! that he e'er proved
Her treason's avenger!
That this right hand should make thee
A bed cold and hollow,
When in death's sleep it laid thee,
Young Mairgread ni Chealleadh.

And while to this lone cave
My deep grief I'm venting,
The Saxon's keen bandog
My footsteps is scenting;
But true men await me
Afar in Duhallow.
Farewell, cave of slaughter,
And Mairgread ni Chealleadh.



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