Background to emer's lament:

Emer was the wife of the Irish hero, Cuchulain. This poem refers to the time when Cuchulain lay, sick unto death, upon his bed; and Emer took all of her jewels to the seaside and cast them into the waters, saying: "Fand, sea-goddess, I beg you to bring my husband back to health. See? I have given you every jewel, every arm-ring and finger-ring, every brooch and neck torc and string of amber that I have."

Fand rose up, white-armed and beautiful, and said: "Your need must be great to give so much. Yet I will ask for more. Give me Cuchulain, to be mine alone, for three days and three nights. Then I will do as you ask."

Emer's love, proving greater than her jealousy, forced her to agree. Fand stayed in Cuchulain's room for three days and three nights, at the end of which he was cured...and deeply in love with the goddess.

Emer forced her husband to make a choice: Fand, or her. After much delibarating, Cuchulain chose the latter and let Fand go.

But things were never quite the same between them again. The poem is in the form of an ancient Irish lament, or caoine ("keen"): one person sings a verse, and every one around the grave sings the chorus, 'Ochon is ochon o," which roughly corresponds to "Alas and woe is me."