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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 REQUIEM FOR ONE SLAIN IN BATTLE by GEORGE LUNT |
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