Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Ireland: Vol. V. 1876–79. | | | | Munster | | Munster | | Sliabh Cuilinn (John O’Hagan) (1822–1890) |
| | | YE who rather | |
| Seek to gather | |
| Biding thought than fleeting pleasure, | |
| In the South what wonders saw ye? | |
| From the South what lesson draw ye? | 5 |
| Wonders, passing thought or measure,— | |
| Lessons, through a life to treasure. | |
| |
| Ever living, | |
| Nature, giving | |
| Welcome wild, or soft caress,— | 10 |
| Scenes that sink into the being | |
| Till the eye grows full with seeing, | |
| And the mute heart can but bless | |
| Him that shaped such loveliness. | |
| |
| Dark and wide ill | 15 |
| Rivers idle, | |
| Wealth unwrought of sea and mine,— | |
| Bays where Europe’s fleets might anchor,— | |
| Scarce Panama’s waters blanker, | |
| Ere Columbus crossed the brine, | 20 |
| Void of living sound or sign. | |
| |
| God hath blest it, | |
| Man opprest it,— | |
| Sad the fruits that mingling rise,— | |
| Fallow fields, and hands to till them, | 25 |
| Hungry mouths, and grain to fill them; | |
| But a social curse denies | |
| Labor’s guerdon, want’s supplies. | |
| |
| Sunlight glances, | |
| Life that dances | 30 |
| In the limbs of childhood there,— | |
| Glowing tints, that fade and sicken | |
| In the pallid, famine-stricken | |
| Looks that men and women wear, | |
| Living types of want and care. | 35 |
| |
| Faith and patience, | |
| Mid privations,— | |
| Genial heart and open hand; | |
| But, what fain the eye would light on, | |
| Pleasant homes to cheer and brighten | 40 |
| Such a race and such a land,— | |
| These, alas! their lords have banned. | |
| |
| These things press on | |
| Us the lesson, | |
| Much may yet be done and borne, | 45 |
| But the bonds that thus continue | |
| Paralyzing limb and sinew, | |
| From our country must be torn: | |
| Then shines out young Munster’s morn. | | | | |
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