Why sing of red battle--what dream dost thou
Ha! "Treason"'s the cry, and "Revenge" is
As the swords of the Saxon surrounded the
Green Erin's undaunted avenger, that day;
The far-flashing sword, and the death-darting
Like some comet commissioned with wrath from
Through the ranks of the Saxon he hewed his
Through lances, and sabres, and hostile array;
And, mounting his charger, he left them to tell
The tale of that feast, and its bloody farewell!
And now on the Saxons his clansmen advance,
With a shout from each heart, and a soul in each
He rushed, like a storm, o'er the night-covered
And swept through their ranks, like the angel of
Then hurrah! for thy glory, young chieftain,
Oh! had we such lightning-souled heroes to-
Again would our "Sunburst" * expand in the
And freedom exult o'er the green Innisfail.
I thought and said, "In Ireland's ground,
Poor Caoch and Pinch slept well that night,
"God's blessing here!" the wanderer cried,
And there he sleeps his last sweet sleep,--
For your father's on the hill, and your mother
Come up above the crags, and we'll dance a
At Anna Grace's door 'twas thus the maidens
Three merry maidens fair in kirtles of the
And Anna laid the rock and the weary wheel
They're glancing through the glimmer of the
Away in milky wavings of neck and ankle bare;
The heavy sliding stream in its sleepy song they
And linking hand in hand, and singing as they go,
The maids along the hill-side have ta'en their
Till they come to where the rowan-trees in lonely
The Hawthorn stands between the ashes tall and
Like matron with her twin grand-daughters at
The rowan-berries cluster o'er her low head
The merry "maidens four have ranged them in a
Between each lovely couple a stately rowan
And away in mazes wavy, like skimming birds
But solemn is the silence of the silvery haze
That drinks away their voices in echoless re-
And dreamily the evening has stilled the haunted
And sinking one by one, like lark notes from
When the falcon's shadow saileth across the
Are hushed the maiden's voices, as cowering
For, from the air above, and the grassy ground
A power of faint enchantment doth through
They sink together silent, and stealing side by
They fling their lovely arms o'er their drooping
Then vainly strive again their naked arms to hide,