Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
O, the Marriage!Thomas Osborne Davis (1814–1845)
O,
With love and mo bhuachaill for me,
The ladies that ride in a carriage
Might envy my marriage to me:
For Eoghan is straight as a tower,
And tender and loving and true;
He told me more love in an hour
Than the Squires of the county could do.
Then O, the marriage …
His eye is as clear as the day,
His conscience and vote were unsold
When others were carried away:
His word is as good as an oath,
And freely ’twas given to me;
O, sure ’twill be happy for both
The day of our marriage to see!
Then O, the marriage …
The neighbours think much of his skill;
And Eoghan ’s the lad to my mind,
Tho’ he owns neither castle nor mill.
But he has a tilloch of land,
A horse, and a stocking of coin,
A foot for the dance, and a hand
In the cause of his country to join.
Then O, the marriage …
We meet in the morning and night—
He sits on the half of my chair,
And my people are wild with delight.
Yet I long thro’ the winter to skim
(Tho’ Eoghan longs more, I can see),
When I will be married to him,
And he will be married to me!
Then O, the marriage, the marriage!
With love and mo bhuachaill for me,
The ladies that ride in their carriage
Might envy my marriage to me.