Sweet faces smiled from holy glass, demure in saintly love,
Sweet voices ripe with Latin grace rolled from the choir above;
But brown eyes under Sunday wear were all my liturgy;
How can she hope for heaven who has so deluded me?
When daffodils were altar gold her lips were light on mine
And when the hawthorn flame was bright we drank the year’s new wine;
The nights seemed stained-glass windows lit with love that paled the sky,
But love’s last ember perishes in the winter of her eye.
Drape every downcast day now in purple cloth of Lent,
Smudge every forehead now with ash, that she may yet repent,
Who going to Mass last Sunday could pass so proudly by
And show her mind was altered by the rolling of an eye.
~ Donagh MacDonagh
This poem was written by Donagh MacDonagh, an Irish poet, judge and broadcaster for Radio Éireann. Born in 1912, Donagh was only about 5 years old when his father, Thomas MacDonagh – an Irish nationalist and poet – was executed.
Donagh became an orphan the following year when his mother passed away unexpectedly. An intense custody battle between his father’s Catholic parents and his mother’s Protestant parents then followed. Ultimately, because of the decree of Ne Temere at the time, which forced a non-Catholic spouse to agree to raise their children Roman Catholic, his father’s parents gained custody of Donagh and his sister.
Later, Donagh attended University College Dublin with other Irish students who went on to become famous actors, activists and poets, such as Cyril Cusack, Charlie Donnelly and Denis Devlin. He was then called to the bar in 1935 and at the time of his death, he was Justice for the Dublin Metropolitan Courts.
"Going to Mass Last Sunday" is set to the tune of "The Lowlands of Holland", which was originally a British folk song and is believed to be of Scottish origin. Though the lyrics often vary, the general tale is that of a young man who is conscripted to the navy on his wedding night. His wife then refuses to ever marry again.
Here is The Dubliner’s version of the song:
