ERIN MAVOURNEEN.
Sweet land of my soul! though the shadows around thee
Have hid in their darkness the light of thy brow,
Though thy harp-strings lie crushed by the chains that have bound thee,
And the crown of thy glory is lost to us now,
Yet fonder the love in our sad hearts upspringing,
A vail of new life round thy torn breast flinging,
Like the ivy's green leaf to the dark ruin clinging,—
Erin Mavourneen arises for thee.
Have hid in their darkness the light of thy brow,
Though thy harp-strings lie crushed by the chains that have bound thee,
And the crown of thy glory is lost to us now,
Yet fonder the love in our sad hearts upspringing,
A vail of new life round thy torn breast flinging,
Like the ivy's green leaf to the dark ruin clinging,—
Erin Mavourneen arises for thee.
No longer we rest where the summer light dallies
In a flush of wild beauty, with lake, rock, and tree,
No longer we kneel by the graves in thy valleys
Where our forefathers sleep with their God and with thee;
The hearths that were bright in our childhood forsaken,
Like seeds that the wind in its wild sport hath taken,
Like leaves that the breeze from the forest has shaken,
Erin Mavourneen, we wander from thee.
In a flush of wild beauty, with lake, rock, and tree,
No longer we kneel by the graves in thy valleys
Where our forefathers sleep with their God and with thee;
The hearths that were bright in our childhood forsaken,
Like seeds that the wind in its wild sport hath taken,
Like leaves that the breeze from the forest has shaken,
Erin Mavourneen, we wander from thee.
Yet shrined in our bosoms, through joy and through sadness,
The dream of thy loveliness never departs,
In toil and in danger, in grief and in gladness,
Thy memory lives with each pulse of our hearts!
There, there, like a star that to light us is given,
'T will shine on our path till earth's ties are all riven,
And our dying lips breathe their last prayer to heaven,
Erin Mavourneen! in blessings for thee.
The dream of thy loveliness never departs,
In toil and in danger, in grief and in gladness,
Thy memory lives with each pulse of our hearts!
There, there, like a star that to light us is given,
'T will shine on our path till earth's ties are all riven,
And our dying lips breathe their last prayer to heaven,
Erin Mavourneen! in blessings for thee.