This poem relates "to one who lived like a sister or spiritual wife with
a priest, monk, or hermit, a practice which, while early suppressed and
abandoned everywhere else, seems to have survived in the Irish Church
till the tenth century."
Crinog of melodious song,
No longer young, but bashful-eyed,
As when we roved Niall's Northern Land,
Hand in hand, or side by side.
Peerless maid, whose looks ran o'er
With the lovely lore of Heaven,
By whom I slept in dreamless joy,
A gentle boy of summers seven.
We dwelt in Banva's broad domain,
Without one stain of soul or sense;
While still mine eye flashed forth on thee
Affection free of all offence.
To meet thy counsel quick and just,
Our faithful trust responsive springs;
Better thy wisdom's searching force
Than any smooth discourse with kings.
In sinless sisterhood with men,
Four times since then, hast thou been bound,
Yet not one rumour of ill-fame
Against thy name has travelled round.
At last, their weary wanderings o'er,
To me once more thy footsteps tend;
The gloom of age makes dark thy face,
Thy life of grace draws near its end.
O, faultless one and very dear,
Unstinted welcome here is thine.
Hell's haunting dread I ne'er shall feel,
So thou be kneeling at my side.
Thy blessed fame shall ever bide,
For far and wide thy feet have trod.
Could we their saintly track pursue,
We yet should view the Living God.
You leave a pattern and bequest
To all who rest upon the earth--
A life-long lesson to declare
Of earnest prayer the precious worth.
God grant us peace and joyful love!
And may the countenance of Heaven's King
Beam on us when we leave behind
Our bodies blind and withering.