CEAN DUV DEELISH

Cean duv deelish, beside the sea

I stand and stretch my hands to thee

Across the world.

The riderless horses race to shore

With thundering hoofs and shuddering, hoar,

Blown manes uncurled.

Cean duv deelish, I cry to thee

Beyond the world, beneath the sea,

Thou being dead.

Where hast thou hidden from the beat

Of crushing hoofs and tearing feet

Thy dear black head?

Cean duv deelish,’ tis hard to pray

With breaking heart from day to day,

And no reply;

When the passionate challenge of sky is cast

In the teeth of the sea and an angry blast

Goes by.

God bless the woman, whoever she be,

From the tossing waves will recover thee

And lashing wind.

Who will take thee out of the wind and storm,

Dry thy wet face on her bosom warm

And lips so kind?

I not to know. It is hard to pray,

But I shall for this woman from day to day,

“Comfort my dead,

The sport of the winds and the play of the sea.”

I loved thee too well for this thing to be,

O dear black head!