The Irish legend of Oisín tells the story of how he met and fell in love with Niamh, a beautiful princess, and went with her on her white horse to Tír na n-Óg, the Land of Youth, where they lived happily with everlasting youth and beauty until Oisín became homesick. He went back, just to see, Niamh warning him that he must not touch the soil of Ireland. While there, he saw some men trying to move a huge stone. He bent down with his great strength and easily moved the stone - but a strap broke and he fell from the horse. Immediately, he changed into an old man and learned that three hundred years had passed since he'd left. The poem visualises how Niamh would have felt when she saw the white horse return, without Oisín.
Niamh’s LamentThe white horse galloped through the sea.
The horse alone came into sight.
I knew that he was gone from me.
The sun flamed then sank dreamily
As evening softened into night,
The white horse galloped through the sea.
A broken strap was hanging free –
He’d fallen from the mare’s tall height.
I knew that he was gone from me.
Oisín was claimed by his country,
Made old, no longer young and bright.
The white horse galloped through the sea.
So it’s all lost, that used to be
When every day was a delight.
I know that he’s gone from me.
Without him, beauty has no light
And endless youth seems endless blight.
The white horse galloped through the sea.
I knew that he was lost to me.
Frances O’Keeffe
