My Grief on the Sea

Douglas Hyde 1860 (Castlerea, County Roscommon) – 1949 (Little Ratra, Phoenix Park, Dublin)



MY grief on the sea,
  How the waves of it roll!
For they heave between me
  And the love of my soul!

Abandon'd, forsaken,
  To grief and to care,
Will the sea ever waken
  Relief from despair?

My grief and my trouble!
  Would he and I were,
In the province of Leinster,
  Or County of Clare!

Were I and my darling--
  O heart-bitter wound!--
On board of the ship
  For America bound.

On a green bed of rushes
  All last night I lay,
And I flung it abroad
  With the heat of the day.

And my Love came behind me,
  He came from the South;
His breast to my bosom,
  His mouth to my mouth.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 13, 2023

35 sec read
137

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD XXDD XEXE XFXF AGXG
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 594
Words 118
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Douglas Hyde

Douglas Ross Hyde (Irish: Dubhghlas de hÍde), known as An Craoibhín Aoibhinn (lit. "the pleasant little branch"), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician and diplomat who served as the first President of Ireland from June 1938 to June 1945. He was a leading figure in the Gaelic revival, and the first President of the Gaelic League, one of the most influential cultural organisations in Ireland at the time. more…

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