Gilded Oars

In this small boat of bronze

I've set sail on a journey beyond

Towards a long destined fate

In my mind still echo the songs

My mother Aoife used to sing

Of her life in anger

The quest for revenge

Of Cuchulainn rising

Prevailed in the end

Of their bond of blood

The birth of their son

Named Conlaoch

Of the day the time had come

For my father to depart

To leave behind his blissful life

And break my mother's heart

Thus on that day my father spoke:

"This ring I give you for our child

As you raise him, train him well

Scáthach will teach the feats,

When he's old enough to wear my ring,

He must go out to seek his king

Yet, three geasa I will put on him:

First,

He should not give way

To any hero from this plane

Second,

He should never tell his name

Through fear to any warrior in this world

Third,

To any man, however strong

He should not refuse a fight

For the greatest warrior I want him to be,

Even mightier and more fierce than me."

And thus I was born and raised

Like my father once had imposed

With an iron hand I was trained

In Scáthach's feats of war

In my mind still echo the songs

My mother Aoife used to sing

Of her life in anger

The quest for revenge

Of Cuchulainn rising

Prevailed in the end

Of their bond of blood,

The birth of their son

Named Conlaoch

I am Conlaoch!

Then when I was old enough

For my thumb to fill the ring

Tears sprang from my mother's eyes

As I asked her one last time to sing

And wave me goodbye

As I forever left the Isle of Skye

So Erin, here I come

Cuchulainn's only son,

Rowing towards your sacred shores

In this small boat of bronze

With gilded oars