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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
NELLY OF THE TOP-KNOTS, by DOUGLAS HYDE Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: Dear god! Were I fisher and | |||
Dear God! were I fisher and Back in Binédar, And Nelly a fish who Would swim in the bay there, I would privately set there My net there to catch her, In Erin no maiden Is able to match her. And Nelly, dear God! Why! you should not thus flee me, I long to be near thee And hear thee and see thee, My hand on the Bible And I swearing and kneeling And giving thee part Of the heart you are stealing. I've a fair yellow casket And it fastened with crystal, And the lock opens not To the shot of a pistol. To Jesus I pray And to Columbkill's Master, That Mary may guide thee Aside from disaster. We may be, O maiden Whom none may disparage, Some morning a-hearing The sweet mass of marriage, But if fate be against us, To rend us and push us, I shall mourn as the blackbird At eve in the bushes. O God, were she with me Where the gull flits and tern, Or in Paris the smiling, Or an Isle in Loch Erne, I would coax her so well, I would tell her my story, And talk till I won her, My sunshine of glory. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HE MEDIATES ON THE LIFE OF A RICH MAN by DOUGLAS HYDE COLD, SHARP LAMENTATION by DOUGLAS HYDE STAR OF MY SIGHT by DOUGLAS HYDE ADDRESS OF DEATH TO TOMAS DE ROISTE by DOUGLAS HYDE IN MEMORIAM: W.G. WARD by ALFRED TENNYSON |
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