| Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922. |
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| 146. Eileen Aroon |
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| By Gerald Griffin |
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| WHEN, like the early rose, | |
| Eileen aroon! | |
| Beauty in childhood blows, | |
| Eileen aroon! | |
| When, like a diadem, | 5 |
| Buds blush around the stem, | |
| Which is the fairest gem? | |
| Eileen aroon! | |
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| Is it the laughing eye, | |
| Eileen aroon! | 10 |
| Is it the timid sigh, | |
| Eileen aroon! | |
| Is it the tender tone, | |
| Soft as the stringed harp’s moan? | |
| Oh! it is Truth alone. | 15 |
| Eileen aroon! | |
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| When, like the rising day, | |
| Eileen aroon! | |
| Love sends his early ray, | |
| Eileen aroon! | 20 |
| What makes his dawning glow | |
| Changeless through joy or woe? | |
| Only the constant know— | |
| Eileen aroon! | |
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| I know a valley fair, | 25 |
| Eileen aroon! | |
| I knew a cottage there, | |
| Eileen aroon! | |
| Far in that valley shade | |
| I knew a gentle maid, | 30 |
| Flower of a hazel glade, | |
| Eileen aroon! | |
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| Who in the song so sweet? | |
| Eileen aroon! | |
| Who in the dance so fleet? | 35 |
| Eileen aroon! | |
| Dear were her charms to me, | |
| Dearer her laughter free, | |
| Dearest her constancy, | |
| Eileen aroon! | 40 |
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| Were she no longer true, | |
| Eileen aroon! | |
| What should her lover do? | |
| Eileen aroon! | |
| Fly with his broken chain | 45 |
| Far o’er the sounding main, | |
| Never to love again, | |
| Eileen aroon! | |
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| Youth must with time decay, | |
| Eileen aroon! | 50 |
| Beauty must fade away, | |
| Eileen aroon! | |
| Castles are sacked in war, | |
| Chieftains are scattered far, | |
| Truth is a fixed star, | 55 |
| Eileen aroon! | |
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