| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | Dear Harp of My Country | | By Thomas Moore (1779–1852) |
| | | DEAR Harp of my Country! in darkness I found thee, | |
| The cold chain of silence had hung o’er thee long, | |
| When proudly, my own Island Harp, I unbound thee, | |
| And gave all thy chords to light, freedom, and song! | |
| The warm lay of love and the light note of gladness | 5 |
| Have wakened thy fondest, thy liveliest thrill; | |
| But, so oft hast thou echoed the deep sigh of sadness, | |
| That ev’n in thy mirth it will steal from thee still. | |
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| Dear Harp of my Country! farewell to thy numbers, | |
| This sweet wreath of song is the last we shall twine! | 10 |
| Go, sleep with the sunshine of fame on thy slumbers, | |
| Till touched by some hand less unworthy than mine; | |
| If the pulse of the patriot, soldier, or lover, | |
| Have throbbed at our lay, ’tis thy glory alone; | |
| I was but as the wind, passing heedlessly over, | 15 |
| And all the wild sweetness I waked was thy own. | | | | |
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