| Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922. |
| |
| 59. King Cahal Mór of the Wine-Red Hand |
| |
| By James Clarence Mangan (Translated) |
| |
| |
| I WALKED entranced | |
| Through a land of Morn: | |
| The sun, with wondrous excess of light, | |
| Shone down and glanced | |
| Over seas of corn | 5 |
| And lustrous gardens aleft and right. | |
| Even in the clime | |
| Of resplendent Spain, | |
| Beams no such sun upon such a land; | |
| But it was the time, | 10 |
| ’T was in the reign, | |
| Of Cahal Mór of the Wine-red Hand. | |
| |
| Anon stood nigh | |
| By my side a man | |
| Of princely aspect and port sublime | 15 |
| Him queried I— | |
| “Oh, my Lord and Khan, | |
| What clime is this, and what golden time?” | |
| When he—“The clime | |
| Is a clime to praise, | 20 |
| The clime is Erin’s, the green and bland; | |
| And it is the time, | |
| These be the days, | |
| Of Cahal Mór of the Wine-red Hand.” | |
| |
| Then saw I thrones | 25 |
| And circling fires, | |
| And a Dome rose near me, as by a spell, | |
| Whence flowed the tones | |
| Of silver lyres, | |
| And many voices in wreathèd swell; | 30 |
| And their thrilling chime | |
| Fell on mine ears | |
| As the heavenly hymn of an angel-band— | |
| “It is now the time | |
| These be the years, | 35 |
| Of Cahal Mór of the Wine-red Hand.” | |
| |
| I sought the hall, | |
| And behold!—a change | |
| From light to darkness, from joy to woe! | |
| Kings, nobles, all, | 40 |
| Looked aghast and strange; | |
| The minstrel group sate in dumbest show! | |
| Had some great crime | |
| Wrought this dread amaze, | |
| This terror? None seemed to understand | 45 |
| ’Twas then the time, | |
| We were in the days, | |
| Of Cahal Mór of the Wine-red Hand. | |
| |
| I again walked forth; | |
| But lo! the sky | 50 |
| Showed flecked with blood, and an alien sun | |
| Glared from the north, | |
| And there stood on high, | |
| Amid his shorn beams, a skeleton! | |
| It was by the stream | 55 |
| Of the castled Maine, | |
| One Autumn eve, in the Teuton’s land, | |
| That I dreamed this dream | |
| Of the time and reign | |
| Of Cahal Mór of the Wine-red Hand. | 60 |
| | | Properly the title is “A vision of Connacht in the Thirteenth Century.” The poem carries the impression of a period earlier than the tumultuous and destructive one that followed the Norman invasion. Cahal Mór of the Wine Red Hand was an O’Connor and was quite an historic personage; he had a romantic career. |
| |
|
|
|
