Mistresses

Six!
  Such different minds and faces!
Three plagues as false as vicious,
  Three that were only lightness.

Hardship,
  The'fishwife left me shattered;
Her giant hooves of iron
  Have left their mark upon me.

Love
  Deluders all creation;
I loved her more than life
  But cannot recall her features.

Gentleness—
  There goes the girl for marriage!
Choice never went beyond her,
  Better than any dowry.

Necessity
  Was sour from the beginning,
The sturdiest woman-living,
  Impossible to discipline.

Courage,
  Stately and stern—a beauty!
Though she and I were lovers
  This year past she has shunned me.

Sorrow,
  The one who wears the mourning,
I never liked; officious
  But nonetheless important.


Source: O'Connor, Frank (tr); Kings, Lords, & Commons: An
Anthology from the Irish; 1962; London; Macmillan & Co; p.79