Douglas Hyde (1860–1949)

From the Irish

MY grief on the sea,

How the waves of it roll!

For they heave between me

And the love of my soul!

Abandon’d, forsaken,

To grief and to care,

Will the sea ever waken

Relief from despair?

My grief and my trouble!

Would he and I were

In the province of Leinster,

Or County of Clare!

Were I and my darling—

O heart-bitter wound!—

On board of the ship

For America bound.

On a green bed of rushes

All last night I lay,

And I flung it abroad

With the heat of the day.

And my Love came behind me,

He came from the South;

His breast to my bosom,

His mouth to my mouth.