Oh! the heart that has truly lov'd, never forgets, But as truly loves on to the close, As the sun-flower turns on her god, when he sets, The same look which she turn'd when he rose ! But while o'er the roses too carelessly leaning, Her zone flew in two and the heart's-ease was lost. E ERIN! OH ERIN! I. LIKE the bright lamp, that shone in KILDARE's holy fane*, And burn'd thro' long ages of darkness and storm, Is the heart, that afflictions have come o'er in vain, Whose spirit out-lives them, unfading and warm! ERIN! oh ERIN! thus bright, thro' the tears Of a long night of bondage, thy spirit appears! II. The nations have fallen, and thou still art young, Thy sun is but rising, when others are set; And, tho' slavery's cloud o'er thy morning hath hung, The full noon of freedom shall beam round thee yet. ERIN! oh ERIN! tho' long in the shade, Thy star will shine out, when the proudest shall fade! * The inextinguishable fire of St. Bridget, at Kildare, which Giraldus mentions," Apud Kildariam occurrit Ignis Sanctæ Brigidæ, quem inextinguibilem vocant; non quod extingui non possit, sed quod tam solicité moniales et sanctæ mulieres ignem, suppetente materia, fovent et nutriunt ut à tempore virginis per tot annorum curricula semper mansit inextinctus.”—Girald. Camb, de Mirabil. Hibern. Dist. 2. c. 34. III. Unchill'd by the rain, and unwak'd by the wind, The lily lies sleeping thro' winter's cold hour, Till Spring, with a touch, her dark slumber unbind, And day-light and liberty bless the young flower *. ERIN! oh ERIN! thy winter is past, And the hope, that liv'd thro' it, shall blossom at last. * Mrs. H. Tighe, in her exquisite lines on the lily, has applied this image to a still more important subject. |