| |
| THEY tell me that the earth is still the same | |
| Although the Red Branch now is but a name, | |
| That yonder peasant lifting up his eyes | |
| Can see the marvel of the morning rise, | |
| The wonder Deirdre gazed on when she came. | 5 |
| |
| I cannot think the hearts that beat so high | |
| Had not a lordlier palace roof of sky, | |
| And that the earth on which the heroes trod | |
| Seemed not to live beneath them like a god | |
| Who loved them and could answer to their cry. | 10 |
| |
| Who said the sun will shine with equal face | |
| Alike upon the noble and the base? | |
| The mighty only to the mighty seems; | |
| The world that loomed through proud and golden dreams | |
| Has dropped behind this world and left no trace. | 15 |
| |
| When that the proud and golden race passed by, | |
| This cold paternal majesty on high, | |
| This unresponsive earth beneath the feet, | |
| Replaced the dear brown breasts that were so sweet, | |
| The face of brooding love within the sky. | 20 |
| |
| How could a beggar wear the kingly crown, | |
| Or those who weakly laid the sceptre down, | |
| Walk ’mid the awful beauty God had made | |
| For those whose hearts were proud and unafraid, | |
| Careless if on His face were smile or frown? | 25 |
| |
