Brian Merriman Poem by Francis Duggan

In his time a giant amongst literary men
'Twas said that he escaped from the Devil's den
By church leaders in Ireland the puritan class
His poems at that time the censor did not pass
Brian Merriman was one of literary note
Known as Ireland's first ever pornographic poet
Born in Ennistymon in the County of Clare
He composed poems of free love of his time his type rare
His 'Midnight Court' in translation is living today
One can say of him with words he had a way
A Gaelic literary giant of the eighteenth century
A genius of sorts of that critics agree
He was quite notorious yet his is an undying fame
And in Irish literature his lives as a legendary name.