XLIX.—SUMMER.
1. Approved by works of love and might,The Year, consummated and crowned,Has scaled the zenith’s purple height,And flings his robe the earth around.2. Impassioned stillness—fervors calm—Brood, vast and bright, o’er land and deep:The warrior sleeps beneath the palm;The dark-eyed captive guards his sleep.3. The Iberian laborer rests from toil;Sicilian virgins twine the dance;Laugh Tuscan vales in wine and oil;Fresh laurels flash from brows of France.4. Far off, in regions of the North,The hunter drops his winter fur;Sun-stricken babes their feet stretch forth;And nested dormice feebly stir.5. But thou, O land of many woes!What cheer is thine? Again the breathOf proved Destruction o’er thee blows,And sentenced fields grow black in death.6. In horror of a new despairHis blood-shot eyes the peasant strains,With hands clenched fast, and lifted hair,Along the daily-darkening plains.7. “Why trusted he to them his store?“Why feared he not the scourge to come?”Fool! turn the page of History o’er—The roll of Statutes—and be dumb!8. Behold, O People! thou shalt die!What art thou better than thy sires?The hunted deer a weeping eyeTurns on his birthplace, and expires.9. Lo! as the closing of a book,Or statue from its base o’erthrown,Or blasted wood, or dried-up brook,Name, race, and nation, thou art gone.10. The stranger shall thy hearth possess;The stranger build upon thy grave.But know this also—he, not lessHis limit and his term shall have.11. Once more thy volume, open cast,In thunder forth shall sound thy name;Thy forest, hot at heart, at lastGod’s breath shall kindle into flame.12. Thy brook dried up, a cloud shall rise,And stretch an hourly widening hand,In God’s good vengeance, through the skiesAnd onward o’er the Invader’s land.13. Of thine, one day, a remnant leftShall raise o’er earth a Prophet’s rod,And teach the coasts of Faith bereftThe names of Ireland, and of God.
1. Approved by works of love and might,The Year, consummated and crowned,Has scaled the zenith’s purple height,And flings his robe the earth around.2. Impassioned stillness—fervors calm—Brood, vast and bright, o’er land and deep:The warrior sleeps beneath the palm;The dark-eyed captive guards his sleep.3. The Iberian laborer rests from toil;Sicilian virgins twine the dance;Laugh Tuscan vales in wine and oil;Fresh laurels flash from brows of France.4. Far off, in regions of the North,The hunter drops his winter fur;Sun-stricken babes their feet stretch forth;And nested dormice feebly stir.5. But thou, O land of many woes!What cheer is thine? Again the breathOf proved Destruction o’er thee blows,And sentenced fields grow black in death.6. In horror of a new despairHis blood-shot eyes the peasant strains,With hands clenched fast, and lifted hair,Along the daily-darkening plains.7. “Why trusted he to them his store?“Why feared he not the scourge to come?”Fool! turn the page of History o’er—The roll of Statutes—and be dumb!8. Behold, O People! thou shalt die!What art thou better than thy sires?The hunted deer a weeping eyeTurns on his birthplace, and expires.9. Lo! as the closing of a book,Or statue from its base o’erthrown,Or blasted wood, or dried-up brook,Name, race, and nation, thou art gone.10. The stranger shall thy hearth possess;The stranger build upon thy grave.But know this also—he, not lessHis limit and his term shall have.11. Once more thy volume, open cast,In thunder forth shall sound thy name;Thy forest, hot at heart, at lastGod’s breath shall kindle into flame.12. Thy brook dried up, a cloud shall rise,And stretch an hourly widening hand,In God’s good vengeance, through the skiesAnd onward o’er the Invader’s land.13. Of thine, one day, a remnant leftShall raise o’er earth a Prophet’s rod,And teach the coasts of Faith bereftThe names of Ireland, and of God.
1. Approved by works of love and might,The Year, consummated and crowned,Has scaled the zenith’s purple height,And flings his robe the earth around.
1. Approved by works of love and might,
The Year, consummated and crowned,
Has scaled the zenith’s purple height,
And flings his robe the earth around.
2. Impassioned stillness—fervors calm—Brood, vast and bright, o’er land and deep:The warrior sleeps beneath the palm;The dark-eyed captive guards his sleep.
2. Impassioned stillness—fervors calm—
Brood, vast and bright, o’er land and deep:
The warrior sleeps beneath the palm;
The dark-eyed captive guards his sleep.
3. The Iberian laborer rests from toil;Sicilian virgins twine the dance;Laugh Tuscan vales in wine and oil;Fresh laurels flash from brows of France.
3. The Iberian laborer rests from toil;
Sicilian virgins twine the dance;
Laugh Tuscan vales in wine and oil;
Fresh laurels flash from brows of France.
4. Far off, in regions of the North,The hunter drops his winter fur;Sun-stricken babes their feet stretch forth;And nested dormice feebly stir.
4. Far off, in regions of the North,
The hunter drops his winter fur;
Sun-stricken babes their feet stretch forth;
And nested dormice feebly stir.
5. But thou, O land of many woes!What cheer is thine? Again the breathOf proved Destruction o’er thee blows,And sentenced fields grow black in death.
5. But thou, O land of many woes!
What cheer is thine? Again the breath
Of proved Destruction o’er thee blows,
And sentenced fields grow black in death.
6. In horror of a new despairHis blood-shot eyes the peasant strains,With hands clenched fast, and lifted hair,Along the daily-darkening plains.
6. In horror of a new despair
His blood-shot eyes the peasant strains,
With hands clenched fast, and lifted hair,
Along the daily-darkening plains.
7. “Why trusted he to them his store?“Why feared he not the scourge to come?”Fool! turn the page of History o’er—The roll of Statutes—and be dumb!
7. “Why trusted he to them his store?
“Why feared he not the scourge to come?”
Fool! turn the page of History o’er—
The roll of Statutes—and be dumb!
8. Behold, O People! thou shalt die!What art thou better than thy sires?The hunted deer a weeping eyeTurns on his birthplace, and expires.
8. Behold, O People! thou shalt die!
What art thou better than thy sires?
The hunted deer a weeping eye
Turns on his birthplace, and expires.
9. Lo! as the closing of a book,Or statue from its base o’erthrown,Or blasted wood, or dried-up brook,Name, race, and nation, thou art gone.
9. Lo! as the closing of a book,
Or statue from its base o’erthrown,
Or blasted wood, or dried-up brook,
Name, race, and nation, thou art gone.
10. The stranger shall thy hearth possess;The stranger build upon thy grave.But know this also—he, not lessHis limit and his term shall have.
10. The stranger shall thy hearth possess;
The stranger build upon thy grave.
But know this also—he, not less
His limit and his term shall have.
11. Once more thy volume, open cast,In thunder forth shall sound thy name;Thy forest, hot at heart, at lastGod’s breath shall kindle into flame.
11. Once more thy volume, open cast,
In thunder forth shall sound thy name;
Thy forest, hot at heart, at last
God’s breath shall kindle into flame.
12. Thy brook dried up, a cloud shall rise,And stretch an hourly widening hand,In God’s good vengeance, through the skiesAnd onward o’er the Invader’s land.
12. Thy brook dried up, a cloud shall rise,
And stretch an hourly widening hand,
In God’s good vengeance, through the skies
And onward o’er the Invader’s land.
13. Of thine, one day, a remnant leftShall raise o’er earth a Prophet’s rod,And teach the coasts of Faith bereftThe names of Ireland, and of God.
13. Of thine, one day, a remnant left
Shall raise o’er earth a Prophet’s rod,
And teach the coasts of Faith bereft
The names of Ireland, and of God.