Melancholy earth upon the breast of Nial,
Melancholy its depth upon his grave;
Neither nobility nor fame can save,
Since that the King of the North is dead.
Whose back is turned upon this joyful world,
Now that his death-wound he received.
He from the noble race of Nial is traced,
The men who proudly governed all this land.
I, the gentle, kind, Mac Cuilenan,[163] did leave,
With Muireagan mòr I also joyful lived.
With Nial I spent a truly happy life;
Bright was my honour as with him I drunk,
Of feasts and wine I could abundance have;
My gold I freely gave the church.
If any there be who heaven reach,
How could Nial be without heaven?
Never have I seen one like Nial.
Fair was he all except the knee,
Great were his beauty and his fame,
Soft were his locks, and grey his eye.
Wrath grew upon the mighty deep,
The wind in strength blew from the east,[164]
Nial then bent him on his knee,
Stronger it blew and without fail;
It suffered no happiness nor peace.
The wind never ceased its sound,
Neither fort nor tree was spared,
Since that the courteous king is dead.
Since Nial[165] Aidh’s son died yesterday,
Numbers on numbers sorely mourn;
And though cups and horns are filled,
Sore is the blow to Conn’s great race.
Without him prosperity is joyless,
His form my heart with sorrow fills,
That I’m till judgment left behind,
Is that which fills my heart with grief.
Melancholy.
[162] Gormlay was the wife of Nial Glundubh, _Nial of the Black Knee_,
who succeeded to the throne of Ireland in 916. He was of the northern
O’Neills, hence called “Righ Tuaisgearta,” or _King of the North_.
[163] The famous Cormac M’Cuilenan, the King-bishop of Munster and
Cashel, to whom M’Geoghagan says Gormlay was first married.
[164] Nial Glundubh was killed in battle by the Danes in 919, having
reigned only three years.
[165] Nial was son of Aidh Finliath, King of Ireland. O’Flaherty
mentions an elegy of Gormlay on her husband, as preserved in the Annals
of Donegal.