Rory O’More or Good Omens

by SAMUEL LOVER (1797–1868)

YOUNG RORY O’MORE courted Kathleen Bawn—
He was bold as a hawk, she was soft as the dawn;
He wished in his heart pretty Kathleen to please,
And he thought the best way to do that was to tease.

“Rory, be aisy,” sweet Kathleen would cry
Reproof on her lip, but a smile in her eye—
“With your tricks I don’t know, in troth, what I’m about,
Faith! you’ve tazed me till I’ve put on my cloak inside out.”
“Och! jewel,” says Rory, “that same is the way
Ye’ve thrated my heart for this many a day;
And ’tis plaz’d that I am, and why not to be sure?
For ’tis all for good luck,” says bold Rory O’More.

“Indeed, then,” says Kathleen, “don’t think of the like,
For I half gave a promise to soothering Mike:
The ground that I walk on he loves, I’ll be bound—”
“Faith,” says Rory, “I ‘d rather love you than the ground.”
“Now, Rory, I’ll cry if you don’t let me go;
Sure I dream every night that I’m hating you so!”
“Och! ” says Rory, “that same I’m delighted to hear,
For dhrames always go by conthraries, my dear.
So, jewel, keep dhraming that same till ye die,
And bright morning will give dirty night the black lie!
And ’tis plazed that I am, and why not, to be sure!
Since ’tis all for good luck,” says bold Rory O’More.

“Arrah, Kathleen, my darlint, you’ve tazed me enough,
Sure I’ve thrashed, for your sake, Dinny Grimes and Jim Duff;
And I ‘ve made myself, drinking your health, quite a baste,
So I think, after that, I may talk to the praste.”
Then Rory, the rogue, stole his arm round her neck,
So soft and so white, without freckle or speck,
And he looked in her eyes that were beaming with light,
And he kissed her sweet lips—don’t you think he was right?
“Now, Rory, leave off, sir—you’ll hug me no more—
That ‘s eight times to-day you have kissed me before.”
“Then here goes another,” says he, “to make sure,
For there ‘s luck in odd numbers,” says Rory O’More.

SAMUEL LOVER was an Irish songwriter, novelist and painter. Lover brought Sheridan Le Fanu’s poem “Shamus O’Brien” to America where it became very popular. People often thought that he wrote it, although he made every effort, even writing to Le Fanu’s brother, William, to make sure the real author’s name was known.

Samuel Lover Contemporaries
John Keats
Leigh Hunt
Thomas Hood
William Maginn