Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Ireland: Vol. V. 1876–79. | | | | Introductory | | Lament for Banba | | James Clarence Mangan (1803–1849) |
| | | O MY land! O my love! | |
| What a woe, and how deep, | |
| Is thy death to my long-mourning soul! | |
| God alone, God above, | |
| Can awake thee from sleep, | 5 |
| Can release thee from bondage and dole! | |
| Alas, alas, and alas! | |
| For the once proud people of Banba! 1 | |
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| As a tree in its prime, | |
| Which the axe layeth low, | 10 |
| Didst thou fall, O unfortunate land! | |
| Not by time, nor thy crime, | |
| Came the shock and the blow; | |
| They were given by a false felon hand! | |
| Alas, alas, and alas, | 15 |
| For the once proud people of Banba! | |
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| O, my grief of all griefs | |
| Is to see how thy throne | |
| Is usurped, whilst thyself art in thrall! | |
| Other lands have their chiefs, | 20 |
| Have their kings, thou alone | |
| Art a wife, yet a widow withal! | |
| Alas, alas, and alas, | |
| For the once proud people of Banba! | |
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| The high house of O’Neill | 25 |
| Is gone down to dust, | |
| The O’Brien is clanless and banned; | |
| And the steel, the red steel, | |
| May no more be the trust | |
| Of the faithful and brave in the land! | 30 |
| Alas, alas, and alas, | |
| For the once proud people of Banba! | |
| |
| True, alas! wrong and wrath | |
| Were of old all too rife, | |
| Deeds were done which no good man admires; | 35 |
| And perchance Heaven hath | |
| Chastened us for the strife | |
| And the blood-shedding ways of our sires! | |
| Alas, alas, and alas, | |
| For the once proud people of Banba! | 40 |
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| But, no more! This our doom, | |
| While our hearts yet are warm, | |
| Let us not over-weakly deplore! | |
| For the hour soon may loom | |
| When the Lord’s mighty hand | 45 |
| Shall be raised for our rescue once more! | |
| And our grief shall be turned into joy | |
| For the still proud people of Banba! | |
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