The Viking Terror

In London during the Second World War we waited for a moonlit night to
sleep safe in our beds. In Ireland of the ninth century they waited
for a storm.

Since tonight the wind is high,
The sea’s white mane a fury

I need not fear the hordes of Hell
Coursing the Irish Channel.


Source: O'Connor, Frank (tr); Kings, Lords, & Commons: An Anthology from the Irish; 1962; London; Macmillan & Co; p.45