Classic Poem

I have thought long this wild wet night that brought no rest
Though I have no gold to watch or horned kine or sheep,
A storm that made the wave cry out has stirred my breast—
Neither dogfish nor periwinkle was once my meat.

Ah, if the men that knew me were but here tonight
With their proud company that held me up secure,
Captains of Munster before their great defeat,
Not long would Corkaguiney see my children poor.

MacCarthy stern and fearless, that most upright man,
MacCarthy of the Lee whose hearth is dark and cold,
MacCarthy of Kanturk and all his kindred gone—
The heart within me breaks to think their tale is told.

The heart within my breast this night is wild with grief
Because of all the haughty men who ruled this place
From Cashel and through Thomond to the wave beneath
None lives, and where they lived lives now an alien race.

Ah, famous wave, you sang the livelong night below
And drove my senses crazy with your bellowing—
I swear if help could ever come to Ireland now
I'd strangle in your raucous throat that song you sing!