Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume VIII. National Spirit. 1904. | | | | I. Patriotism | | After Death | | Frances Isabel Parnell (1848–1882) |
| | | SHALL mine eyes behold thy glory, O my country? Shall mine eyes behold thy glory? | |
| Or shall the darkness close around them, ere the sun-blaze breaks at last upon thy story? | |
| When the nations ope for thee their queenly circle, as a sweet new sister hail thee, | |
| Shall these lips be sealed in callous death and silence, that have known but to bewail thee? | |
| Shall the ear be deaf that only loved thy praises, when all men their tribute bring thee? | 5 |
| Shall the mouth be clay that sang thee in thy squalor, when all poets’ mouths shall sing thee? | |
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| Ah, the harpings and the salvos and the shoutings of thy exiled sons returning! | |
| I should hear, though dead and mouldered, and the grave-damps should not chill my bosom’s burning. | |
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| Ah, the tramp of feet victorious! I should hear them ’mid the shamrocks and the mosses, | |
| And my heart should toss within the shroud and quiver as a captive dreamer tosses. | 10 |
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| I should turn and rend the cere-clothes round me, giant sinews I should borrow— | |
| Crying, “O my brothers, I have also loved her in her loneliness and sorrow. | |
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| “Let me join with you the jubilant procession; let me chant with you her story; | |
| Then contented I shall go back to the shamrocks, now mine eyes have seen her glory!” | | | | |
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