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THE WEDDING OF THE CLANS, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: I go to knit two clans together
Last Line: Because I never was married before!


I go to knit two clans together,
Our clan and this clan unseen of yore.
Our clan fears naught; but I go, oh, whither?
This day I go from my mother's door.

Thou, redbreast, singest the old song over,
Though many a time hast thou sung it before;
They never sent thee to some strange new lover
To sing a new song by my mother's door.

I stepped from my little room down by the ladder--
The ladder that never so shook before;
I was sad last night, to-day I am sadder,
Because I go from my mother's door.

The last snow melts upon bush and bramble,
The gold bars shine on the forest's floor;
Shake not, thou leaf; it is I must tremble,
Because I go from my mother's door.

From a Spanish sailor a dagger I bought me,
I trailed a rose-bush our grey bawn o'er;
The creed and the letters our old bard taught me;
My days were sweet by my mother's door.

My little white goat, that with raised feet huggest
The oak stock, thy horns in the ivy frore;
Could I wrestie like thee--how the wreaths thou tuggest!
I never would move from my mother's door.

Oh, weep no longer, my nurse and mother;
My foster-sister, weep not so sore;
You cannot come with me, Ir, my brother--
Alone I go from my mother's door.

Farewell, my wolf-hound, that slew MacOwing,
As the caught me and far through the thickets bore,
My heifer Alb in the green vale lowing,
My cygnet's nest upon Loma's shore.

He has killed ten Chiefs, this Chief that plights me,
His hand is like that of the giant Balor;
But I fear his kiss, and his beard affrights me,
And the great stone dragon above his door.

Had I daughters nine, with me they should tarry;
They should sing old songs; they should dance at my door.
They should grind at the quern, no need to marry!
Oh, when shall this marriage day be o'er?

Had I buried, like Moirin, three mates already,
I might say, three husbands, then why not four?
But my hand is cold, and my foot unsteady,
Because I never was married before!





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