| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| Tipperary |
| | | Mary Eva Kelly |
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| WERE you ever in sweet Tipperary, where the fields are so sunny and green, | |
| And the heath-brown Slieve-bloom and the Galtees look down with so proud a mien? | |
| ’T is there you would see more beauty than is on all Irish ground— | |
| God bless you, my sweet Tipperary! for where could your match be found? | |
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| They say that your hand is fearful, that darkness is in your eye; | 5 |
| But I ’ll not let them dare to talk so black and bitter a lie. | |
| O, no! macushla storin, bright, bright, and warm are you, | |
| With hearts as bold as the men of old, to yourself and your country true. | |
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| And when there is gloom upon you, bid them think who brought it there— | |
| Sure a frown or a word of hatred was not made for your face so fair; | 10 |
| You ’ve a hand for the grasp of friendship—another to make them quake, | |
| And they ’re welcome to whichsoever it pleases them to take. | |
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| Shall our homes, like the huts of Connaught, be crumbled before our eyes? | |
| Shall we fly, like a flock of wild geese, from all that we love and prize? | |
| No! by those that were here before us, no churl shall our tyrant be, | 15 |
| Our land it is theirs by plunder—but, by Brigid, ourselves are free! | |
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| No! we do not forget the greatness did once to sweet Eiré belong; | |
| No treason or craven spirit was ever our race among; | |
| And no frown or word of hatred we give—but to pay them back; | |
| In evil we only follow our enemies’ darksome track. | 20 |
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| O, come for awhile among us and give us the friendly hand! | |
| And you ’ll see that old Tipperary is a loving and gladsome land; | |
| From Upper to Lower Ormonde, bright welcomes and smiles will spring: | |
| On the plains of Tipperary the stranger is like a king. | |
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