Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DOLOR OOGO, by ARTHUR THOMAS QUILLER-COUCH


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DOLOR OOGO, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thirteen men by ruan shore
Last Line: Wipes her hands incessantly.
Alternate Author Name(s): Q; Quiller-couch, A. T.
Subject(s): Sea; Ocean


THIRTEEN men by Ruan Shore,
—Dolor Oogo, Dolor Oogo—
Drownèd men since 'eighty-four,
Down in Dolor Oogo:
On the cliff against the sky,
Ailsa, wife of Malachi—
That cold woman—
Sits and knits eternally.

By her silent husband's side
—Dolor Oogo, Dolor Oogo—
Stretched awake, she hears the tide
Moan in Dolor Oogo:
Till athwart the easter gale
Hark! the merry dead men hail—
'Thou cold woman,
Take the lantern from the nail!'

Rising in her chilly sark
—Dolor Oogo, Dolor Oogo—
Forth she fares by Behan Parc,
Out to Dolor Oogo:
Kneeling there above the brink,
Lets her long red tresses sink
—That cold woman—
For the sailor-men to drink.

Then the sailor men beneath
—Dolor Oogo, Dolor Oogo—
Take the ends between their teeth,
Deep in Dolor Oogo.
'Lusty blood is this to quaff:
(So the merry dead men laugh)
O, cold woman,
Hath thy man as good by half?'

'Drownèd men by Ruan Shore
—Dolor Oogo, Dolor Oogo—
Lost aboard the Elsinore
Down by Dolor Oogo—
If the gulls behind the share
Yesterday had called "Beware,
Thy cold woman!"
Paler now had been my hair.

'Socks I knit you each a pair
—Dolor Oogo, Dolor Oogo—
Half of yarn and half of hair,
Over Dolor Oogo.'
'Dripping, dripping on the tide,
What red dye thy hair hath dyed,
Thou cold woman?'
'It hath brushed upon his side.'

Knitting with her double thread
—Dolor Oogo, Dolor Oogo—
Half of black and half of red—
Over Dolor Oogo,
On the cliff against the sky,
Ailsa, wife of Malachi,
That cold woman,
Wipes her hands incessantly.





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