This poem/song is taken from the Irish story of Deirdre of the Sorrows, and for the tune I adapted Burn’s “Scots Callan o’ Bonnie Dundee” as heard sung by Mairi Campbell, on the album “The Winnowing” by The Cast, consisting of Mairi and her partner Dave Francis (Culburnie Records, CUL104).
Do you remember when I dreamed of this?
On the shores of Loch Ness, in the days of our bliss,
I dreamed of a dove, with mead in its mouth,
Pursued by a hawk, red with blood, from the South.
And now you lie beautiful, down in your grave,
Between your two brothers, whom you couldn’t save.
Naois, oh Naois, my husband, my love,
With soft-spoken words and the eyes of a dove,
Men will remember your sword of bright steel,
But your wife will remember how you made her feel,
On the shores of Loch Ness, in the days of our bliss,
Before that dark night when I first dreamed of this.
I was a fair maiden, the world was unknown,
When first I espied you, your raven hair shone,
And flew like the pennant when men go to war,
To meet their sad fate on death’s lonely black shore.
You rode with your brothers, so gallant and brave,
Now the three of you, lovely, lie down in one grave.
Our story is strange, our story is long,
A poet might tell it one day in a song,
Might tell of my father, a harper they say,
Who foresaw my sad fate and then sent me away,
He foresaw how the dove with the mead in its mouth
Would be killed by the bloody red hawk from the south.
He foresaw how my laughter and bonnie bright smile
Would one day the King of all Ulster beguile,
And Connor would send many men to their graves
That a kiss from these ruby red lips he would have.
For my smile did the brave men of Ulster make war,
And meet their sad fate on death’s lonely black shore.
Oh you were my fate, my fairest of fair,
The finest of Ireland, with raven black hair.
You were my fate, and I was your weird,
And this bloody black day is the day my Da feared,
When the finest of Ireland is laid in his grave
Between his two brothers, whom he couldn’t save.
But you tried to save them, and that was your doom,
Now you lie close between then, and yet there is room.
I’ll lie down beside you and cross to the isle
Where the dead men of Ulster may yet see me smile,
And there I will find you and there we will kiss,
As we kissed at Loch Ness in the days of our bliss.
Tags: deirdre, irish, Lyrics only, Music, song, storytelling
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