Mother, rich with child, warm and full
Beside the fire nestles at the feet
Of man who sees what is, and was, and will,
His scrutiny unmet by blushing eyes
As he views the offspring of the womb.
Father, warm with wine and coffee-cake
Watches from the wall on which he leans
As prophecies are placed upon his babe.
At last, the Druid Cathbad rose to speak.
"The child, a girl, will have great pulchritude,
And grow rich in the beauties men might seek,
Have hair of gold and deepest emerald eyes,
Teeth like snow and lips as as read as blood;
She'll lack not one small grace of womankind.
But though her beauty will surpass all else,
Great evil will be bred inside her heart,
And Ulster will someday shed blood for her."
The mother carried Deirdre some time more,
And riots in the hall began to swell;
They would have killed the babe upon her birth,
But for the King of Ulster, Conchobor.
And Conchobor removed the girl as his,
That her beauty might be grown for him,
And she was raised apart from any man.
Deirdre, though, herself had other plans;
She wished a man with body white as snow,
And hair jet black, and cheeks as red as blood.
The man she craved was not her Conchobor.
But later in the year she saw a man
Noisiu, who came from near Emain,
And he was all she wished. Then Deirdre came
And walked near him to speak a few sweet words
Of her undying love, which he refused,
Until she cast a spell and won his heart.
All Ulster heard the cry Noisiu gave
And rose, as one, to fight for Conchobor
While Noisiu and his family fled in haste.
Pursued by Ulster's men, they went so far
That Conchobor was asked to call them back,
And soon they came, prepared for peace.
But at Emain, upon the green, they stopped
For Ulster's army stood to fight them down
And slew the family of Noisiu,
Pursued each man until they all lay cold,
Though Deirdre was preserved and bound alive.
And Deirdre then was brought to Conchobor
To serve him in his house for one long year;
Unhappy, lonely, heedless of her place,
She spent her time remembering Noisiu.
Then Conchobor suggested that she leave
To spend a year with warrior Eogan,
For Eogan had slain Noisiu.
But Deirdre, hearing this, was overcome,
And grief was throbbing in her mourning breast
And, facing Conchobor and Eogan,
She flung herself at stone and met her death.

Go back to the Spiral Notebook page?

Go home to the Great Books page?

Bye!