Three Irish Bardic Tales :: :: University of Virginia Library

Three Irish Bardic Tales

Being Metrical Versions of the Three Tales known as The Three Sorrows of Story-telling. By John Todhunter

Todhunter, John (1839-1916)

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OIFA'S SONG OF DOOM.

1

The doom of the Children of Lir,
Thus Oifa dooms them,
Go pine in the feathers of swans
Till the North shall wed the South.

2

Three hundred years shall ye float
On the stillness of Derryvarragh:

A lake in Westmeath; Sruth-na-Moyle, the tide-way between Ireland and Scotland; Erris Domnann, possibly Erris Head, in Mayo; Inis Glory, an island on the coast of Kerry.

On the tossing of Sruth-na-Moyle,
Unsheltered, three hundred years.

3

Three hundred years shall ye keene
With the curlews of Erris Domnann;
Till the bell rings in Inis Glory
I curse you: nine hundred years!

17

The four Swans heard their doom, and huddled by the shore
Wept at the feet of Oifa. Fianoula weeping said:
‘This is a mighty curse, O mother of our tears!
Unmothered, comfortless, cold through the age-long night!’