| Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922. |
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| 90. The Battle Eve of the Irish Brigade |
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| By Thomas Davis |
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| THE mess-tent is full, and the glasses are set, | |
| And the gallant Count Thomond is president yet; | |
| The vet’ran arose, like an uplifted lance, | |
| Crying—“Comrades, a health to the monarch of France!” | |
| With bumpers and cheers they have done as he bade | 5 |
| For King Louis is loved by the Irish Brigade. | |
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| “A health to King James,” and they bent as they quaffed, | |
| “Here’s to George the Elector,” and fiercely they laughed, | |
| “Good luck to the girls we wooed long ago, | |
| Where Shannon, and Barrow, and Blackwater flow;” | 10 |
| “God prosper Old Ireland,”—you’d think them afraid, | |
| So pale grew the chiefs of the Irish Brigade. | |
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| “But surely, that light cannot be from our lamp | |
| And that noise—are they all getting drunk in the camp?” | |
| “Hurrah! boys, the morning of battle is come, | 15 |
| And the generale’s beating on many a drum.” | |
| So they rush from the revel to join the parade: | |
| For the van is the right of the Irish Brigade. | |
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| They fought as they revelled, fast, fiery and true, | |
| And, though victors, they left on the field not a few; | 20 |
| And they, who survived, fought and drank as of yore, | |
| But the land of their heart’s hope they never saw more; | |
| For in far foreign fields, from Dunkirk to Belgrade, | |
| Lie the soldiers and chiefs of the Irish Brigade. | |
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