Lyrics

Old Woman of Beare

Words: Compiled from several translations of an eighth century anonymous Irish poem
Adapted by Steven Reese
Music: Steven Reese (BMI)

The sea it crawls away from shore, leaves weeds like a corpse’s hair
That desolate, withdrawing sea is in me, I’m the old woman of Beare
The old woman of Beare am I, who once was so beautiful
Now all I know is how to die, as you can see I’m doing it well
As you can see, I’m doing it well

Look at this skin stretched tight on my bones, where kings have pressed their lips
The sea brought kings to me and love was the treasure aboard those ships
I drank my fill of wine with them, their eyes fixed on my hair
But now among these stinking hags I chew the cud of prayer
I chew the cud of prayer

I don’t hate the men who swore the truth was in their lies
I hate those women who love only money, and most, I hate their eyes
And still that sea plunges into me, it goes rolling through my head
But instead of kings and young men it brings only images of the drifting dead
The faces of the drifting dead

The wind it stitches salt into my lips, the sea leaves me here on land
Where the foam dries like my shrunken thighs, like the waves that break through my
hands
The old woman of Beare am I, who once was beautiful
Now all I know is how to die, as you can see I’m doing it well
As you can see, I’m doing it well.

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