The Widower’s Bed (A.D. 1392)

Lover and once-beloved,
  How rests the sick man’s head?
I seek, and seek no other,
  My own deserted bed.

If nothing brings relief
  From all this world of care
What other can I seek
  Since friends I cannot bear?

Stretch a protecting hand,
  God, on all such as I
Who, losing a faithful wife
  In their cold beds must lie!

Lover and well-beloved,
  Diarmuid MacCarthy is gone;
He sleeps in a wooden bed
  Under a heavy stone.

Grania was the beloved
  Of Diarmuid in his day;
Now they sleep well who found
  Their love that bitter way.

Mary, you nursed in bed
  Your son for Calvary—
Beg Him for mercy now
  On my beloved and me!

Source: Sunday Independent, 1963-09-22, p.8