Once I was a monarch's daughter,
And sat on a lady's knee;
But am now a nightly rover,
Banished to the ivy tree.

Crying hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo,
Hoo, hoo, hoo, my feet are cold.
Pity me, for here you see me
Persecuted, poor, and old.

When I was a bachelor young and gay
I followed the roving trade
And all the harm that ever I done,
I courted a pretty maid.
I courted her in the summer season
And part of the winter too,
And many a night I walked with her
All over foggy dew.

One night as I lay on my bed
As I lay fast asleep,
Then up comes this pretty fair maid
And most bitterly did weep.
She wept, she moaned, she tore her hair,
Crying, " Alas, what shall I do?
This night I'm resolved to stay with you
For fear of the foggy dew."

Once I loved a spider
When I was born a fly,
A velvet-footed spider
With a gown of rainbow-dye.
She ate my wings and gloated.
She bound me with a hair.
She drove me to her parlor
Above her winding stair.
To educate young spiders
She took me all apart.
My ghost came back to haunt her.
I saw her eat my heart.

Once I lost my temper,
Threw it quite aside,
Oh, I did not realize,
Part of me had died.

Oh, I did not realize,
That swift anger's fire,
Burns the heart that reaches
Toward the sky — and higher.

Once I kept my temper,
When things tried my soul;
Kept it sweet and shining,
Wonderful and whole.

Then — and this is truthful —
All the way I trod,
Seemed to lead me brightly,
Toward the throne of God.

Once I learnt in wilful hour
How to vex him; still I keep,
Now unwilfully, my power:
Every day he comes to weep.

Once he asked me:
How is it that these return after a few years
with titles and white collars
and slimly built ...?
And when I answered him tersely
he shouted at me:
But you read night and day
night and day.

I said to my father one day:
There are many who enter history
as a whore enters the bed.
There are even more who exit history
as a whore leaves the bed.

But he did not understand.

Between one day and the next
he would sit in his usual corner

Once from a big, big building,
When I was small, small,
The queer folk in the windows
Would smile at me and call.

And in the hard wee gardens
Such pleasant men would hoe:
" Sir, may we touch the little girl's hair! " —
It was so red, you know.

They cut me coloured asters
With shears so sharp and neat,
They brought me grapes and plums and pears
And pretty cakes to eat.

And out of all the windows,
No matter where we went,
The merriest eyes would follow me
And make me compliment.

Once, ere God was crucified,
I was King o'er Uladh wide:
King, by law of choice and birth,
O'er the fairest realm of Earth.

I was head of Rury's race;
Emain was my dwelling-place;
Right and Might were mine; nor less
Stature, strength, and comeliness.

Neither lacked I love's delight,
Nor the glorious meeds of fight.
All on earth was mine could bring
Life's enjoyment to a king.

Much I loved the jocund chase,
Much the horse and chariot race:
Much I loved the deep carouse,
Quaffing in the Red Branch House.

Once did my thoughts both ebb and flow,
As passion did them move;
Once did I hope, straight fear again,--
And then I was in love.

Once did I waking spend the night,
And tell how minutes move.
Once did I wishing waste the day,--
And then I was in love.

Once, by my carving true love's knot,
The weeping trees did prove
That wounds and tears were both our lot,--
And then I was in love.

Once did I breathe another's breath
And in my mistress move,
Once was I not mine own at all,--
And then I was in love.

Once before I loved this quiet place
and vowed that here I'd build myself a house.
How could I know I'd fall in the world's net
and not return here for ten years or more!
After loss and hardship, at least I'm in one piece;
smoke and fire have darkened the old place.
The bramble gate is far down in the alley;
in setting sunlight, willows and elms are sparse.
The old man next door, to celebrate reunion
brings over a basket with a pair of fish.
Concerned, he asks, “Sir, why is it
that your face looks different than before?”