"TIS GONE, AND FOR EVER. AIR-Savournah Deelish. 'Tis gone, and for ever, the light we saw breaking, Like Heaven's first dawn o'er the sleep of the dead, When man, from the slumber of ages awaking, Look'd upward and bless'd the pure ray ere it fled! "Tis gone, and the gleams it has left of its burning, But deepen the long night of bondage and mourning, That dark o'er the kingdoms of earth is return ing, And, darkest of all, hapless Erin! o'er thee, For high was thy hope, when those glories were darting Around thee, through all the gross clouds of the world; When Truth, from her fetters indignantly starting, At once like a sun-burst', her banner unfurl'd, Oh, never shall earth see a moment so splendid! Then, then, had one Hymn of Deliverance blended The tongues of all nations, how sweet had ascended The first note of Liberty, Erin! from thee. But shame on those tyrants, who envied the blessing! And shame on the light race, unworthy its good, Who, at Death's reeking altar, like furies ca ressing, The young hope of Freedom, baptized it in blood! "The Sun-burst" was the fanciful name given by the ancient Irish to the royal banner. Then vanish'd for ever that fair sunny vision, Which, spite of the slavish, the cold heart's de rision, Shall long be remember'd, pure, bright, and elysian, As first it arose, my lost Erin! on thee. I SAW FROM THE BEACH. AIR-Miss Molly. I SAW from the beach, when the morning was shining, A bark o'er the waters move gloriously on; I came, when the sun o'er that beach was de clining, The bark was still there, but the waters were gone! Ah! such is the fate of our life's early promise! So passing the spring-tide of joy we have known; Each wave that we danced on at morning ebbs from us, And leaves us, at eve, on the bleak shore alone. Ne'er tell me of glories, serenely adorning The close of our day, the calm eve of our night; Give me back, give me back, the wild freshness of Morning, Her clouds and her tears are worth Evening's best light. Oh! who would not welcome that moment's re turning, When Passion first waked a new life through his frame, And his soul, like the wood that grows precious in burning, Gave out all its sweets to Love's exquisite flame! |