Tonight's Poet Corner: Sean-nós

For those of you who have never been to Ireland or don't listen to a lot of Irish music, a sean-nós song is a very ornamental, unaccompanied traditional song. It is meant to be a fluid and complex form of singing and most frequently is done in Irish Gaelic. There are many different styles of sean-nós in Ireland, including the Donegal style, the West and East Munster styles, and the more popular but arguably more difficult Connemara style.

It has been a dream of mine to write my own lyrics for a sean-nós song that I can perform at some point in the future. Whether or not it'll be here in the United States or off in Ireland, I can't safely say.

Sean-nós
by Belinda Roddie

when the fog comes swirling through the maw
of the ledges of Moher intertwined
I go where the sea meets Ireland's jaw
and for the girl I loved I pine
so far away from flat green plains
and pints of ointment giv'n to strangers
drinking up worries to forget their loved ones
who ran off to strange lands ne'er to return

so goes the aching of my soul
so ravaged by cold and by ice in the winter
my happiness ended, I don't know where to go
besides where the sea meets Ireland's jaw

each morning, I dress and comb my hair
and place my heart in a pocket of wool
I blend with shadows in Dublin's square
and flutter round from stool to stool
while my love's so far from flat green plains
and pints of courage giv'n to cowards
drinking up tears they spill for their loved ones
who wanted to start over and ne'er return

so goes the aching of my soul
so ravaged by the cold and by ice in the winter
my happiness ended, I don't know where to go
besides where the sea meets Ireland's jaw

the sea is the tears on Ireland's chin
where sorrow streams from sad green eyes
and dribbles onto tongues and withered skin
where stories are the only things that never die
and I talk of my love far from flat, green plains
o'er a pint of sadness giv'n to me each night
words like froth bubble over and give me hope
that my love will come back, but she's never returned

so goes the aching of my soul
so ravaged by the cold and by ice in the winter
my happiness ended, I don't know where to go
besides where the sea meets with Ireland's jaw