Grace O’Malley Irish Pirate Queen

Gráinne Ní Mháille 1530-1603

Gráinne Ní Mháille,
the Irish Pirate Queen
known also as Grace O’Malley,
and famous all the way to Spain,
ruled the pirate men
so well that they revered her.
Her life even more audacious
than all the legends about her.

The wild and principled Gráinne
could read the weather,
navigate by stars,
and do battle after giving birth.
When she  met with Elizabeth,
Queen of the land,
Grace  named herself
Queen of the Sea.

At Rockfleet Castle Gráinne slept
tethered by toe to her ship,
rocked, in her dreams, by the sea.
‘Til the age of 68 she sailed
as Chieftan protecting her clan,
sharing her plentiful bounty.
May her boundless sense of the possible
buoy women everywhere this day.

©Susa Silvermarie 2025