The Deise Girl’s Lament

The Deise Girl’s Lament

“O my love’s at sea in Newfoundland waters Where the Cod fish gleam and the wild winds roar; Where his brave heart sings, though his courage falters And he longs for home and my arms once more.”

She wandered there there by the winds-wept quayside; She has waited long for her love’s return, Through those winter nights when she sat and sighed By the lonely hearth, where her own heart yearns.

Chorus “For the nights are lonely without his love And the child grows big and often cries; As we wait and wonder, in the grip of fret, For his safe return under blue calm skies”.

“ ’Twas from Carrick Town, where our home is waiting, To Talamh an Éisc he crossed the sea For the gleaming cod that his skill is baiting — All his thoughts are there, and, no doubt, on me”.

Down in Waterford, at the cod ships berthing They told the news of the men who drowned, Though they searched all night till the weary dawning, In that bitter sea, not a soul was found.

Chorus “O that bitter sea in my heart is heaving, My man is gone with his crew and all, I will spend my days in a sadness grieving Here in Carrick town, where I hear him call.

“O that bitter sea it has taken many, But the one I loved, is the one I miss; For I loved him well above all and any; All my bitter nights it’s a ghost I’ll kiss”.

— © Frank Callery, Tuesday 28th February, 2017.