Danny
Danny
Original Text
The works of John M. Synge (Dublin: Maunsel, 1910). del S993 A1 1910 Fisher Rare Book Library.
2A score I'm told and nine,
3Said, "We'll get shut of Danny's noise
4Of girls and widows dyin'.
7At playing hell on decent girls,
8At beating man and boy.
9"He's left two pairs of female twins
12He's struck the parish priest.
13"But we'll come round him in the night
15Ten will quench his bloody eyes,
16And ten will choke his gullet."
17It wasn't long till Danny came,
19And he was damning moon and stars
20And whistling grand and gay.
21Till in a gap of hazel glen --
22And not a hare in sight --
23Out lepped the nine-and-twenty lads
24Along his left and right.
25Then Danny smashed the nose of Byrne,
26He split the lips on three,
27And bit across the right hand thumb
28Of one Red Shawn Magee.
29But seven tripped him up behind,
30And seven kicked before,
31And seven squeezed around his throat
32Till Danny kicked no more.
33Then some destroyed him with their heels,
34Some tramped him in the mud,
35Some stole his purse and timber pipe,
36And some washed off his blood.
37And when you're walking out the way
39You'll see a flat cross on a stone
40Where men choked Danny's gullet.
Notes
1] Erris: the barony in the northwest region of country Mayo. Back to Line
5] Binghamstown: coastal town in Mayo. Back to Line
6] Boyle and Ballycroy: market town in county Roscommon, and a small town north of Mullaranny. Back to Line
10] Killacreest: unidentified. Back to Line
11] Crossmolina: town in county Mayo. Back to Line
14] the Mullet: the peninsula in northwest Mayo between Broadhaven and Blacksod Bay. Back to Line
18] Bangor: Bagor Erris, a town near Belmullet. Back to Line
38] Belmullet: town in Mayo. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1910
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1999.
Rhyme
Form