Daniel McDonagh Poems

From the golden waters of the river Luggie
The angel Neir, she did appear,
She held in her hand a crown of thorns,
From her emerald eyes, shed virgin tears.
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The Laird of Glasghu possessed no heart,
His soul was as black as the devils eyes,
He condemned the fate of the angel Neir
For her Christian teachings, he considered papist lies.
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The angel Neir lay her head by the stream of souls
As daylight covered her face of grief and sorrow,
She heard the sound of a song that danced in a breeze
And saw women wash the clothes of those of who would die tomorrow.
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Neir felt that she had walked for a thousand years
But she needed the courage to defend her fears,
And she took the road where Dún Scáith stands,
To find Scáthach, the legendary warrior woman.
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Long ago, when the stars in the sky brightly shone,
To the tribe of MacDonnachda, a daughter was born
Who inherited her mother’s eyes of emerald green
And whose cries shivered the skin of the wailing banshee.
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The county of Glasghu sat within the Mungo hills
With Loch Croy to the north and Loch Syth to the south,
And Glasghuans would worship at sunrise each day,
Submerge their bodies in the lochs to cleanse their pagan souls.
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“I know not of this Saviour that you speak of
But I have heard his name travel in the wind,
The ocean birds sang of his arrival
While a star shone in the sky of Bethlehem.
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The wind growled and crawled over my face
While the rain pierced my skin like a spear,
I searched for a shield to protect my soul
But I cannot battle the elements of the season.
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I was walking along the Gallowgate,
One cold and rainy day,
Feeling weak and tired from hunger
That would not go away.
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I am an Irishman born under British rule,
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