SEAN O'COSGAIR
Pity it was that you should ever stand
In ship or boat,
Or that you went afloat
Inside that ship!
The lusty steps you took!
The ways and journeys you knew how to wend
From London back to Beltra,
And this end!
You who could swim so well!
What time you sported in the lifting tides
The girls swam out to you, and held your sides
When they were weary, for they knew they were
Safe, because you were there.
Your little-mother thought that this was true
(And so she made no stir
Till you were found),
Although an hundred might be drownéd, you
Would come back safe to her,
And not be drowned!
THE COUNTY MAYO
Now with the coming in of the spring the days will stretch a bit,
And after the Feast of Brigid I shall hoist my flag and go,
For since the thought got into my head I can neither stand nor sit
Until I find myself in the middle of the County of Mayo.
In Claremorris I would stop a night and sleep with decent men,
And then go on to Balla just beyond and drink galore,
And next to Kiltimagh for a visit of about a month, and then
I would only be a couple of miles away from Ballymore.