Dervogilla
Dervogilla – the Helen of Hibernia!
Beauty great to a land she brings
Tragedy of a thousand years of
Death and passions between kings…
Peasants fight the wars and die
Beauty fades with advancing age
Remembered in hatreds in centuries to come
Folly rued by historian, student and sage.
Dermot – The Paris of our land!
You a lover for your bed did find
Phyriic victory for your clan whose heirs were lost
Your son beheaded – another Enna made blind! (1)
O’ Connor the Brehon laws enforced:
Such is as High King his role
For breaking the seventh writing on stone (2)
By the Finger of God which also marks your soul!
Ireland – the Troy of our modern times
Among whom blood over passions still spilled
This sin, alas, draws a high price
The dead know not why they were killed
In a war caused by wars caused by a war
Fought over the sins of a lustful king
Who to fight the man that he had wronged
A husband to his child daughter to our land did bring! (3)
(1) Rory O’Connor High King of Ireland, held Dermot’s legitimate heirs as hostages to ensure the good behaviour of the Leinster King. When this was not forthcoming, the eldest boy Enna was blinded which made him quite incapable of inheriting his father’s territory, and the second boy was beheaded;
(2) The seventh commandement of the Ten Commandment prohibits adultry, said to be written on the Tablets of Stone brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses by the very Finger of God.
(3) Dermot gave his daughter, merely 15 at the time, to the Norman de Clare as a bride. The husband McMurrough brought brought with him the troubles that have stayed with us to this day…
Reference:
http://www.rostapestry.ie/the-panels/2-the-abduction-of-dervogilla/