| |
| THERE came to the beach a poor exile of Erin, | |
| The dew on his thin robe was heavy and chill; | |
| For his country he sighed, when at twilight repairing | |
| To wander alone by the wind-beaten hill. | |
| But the day-star attracted his eye’s sad devotion, | 5 |
| For it rose o’er his own native isle of the ocean, | |
| Where once, in the fire of his youthful emotion, | |
| He sang the bold anthem of Erin go bragh. | |
| |
| Sad is my fate! said the heart-broken stranger; | |
| The wild deer and wolf to a covert can flee, | 10 |
| But I have no refuge from famine and danger, | |
| A home and a country remain not to me. | |
| Never again in the green sunny bowers | |
| Where my forefathers lived shall I spend the sweet hours, | |
| Or cover my harp with the wild-woven flowers, | 15 |
| And strike to the numbers of Erin go bragh! | |
| |
| Erin, my country! though sad and forsaken, | |
| In dreams I revisit thy sea-beaten shore; | |
| But, alas! in a far foreign land I awaken, | |
| And sigh for the friends who can meet me no more! | 20 |
| O cruel fate! wilt thou never replace me | |
| In a mansion of peace, where no perils can chase me? | |
| Never again shall my brothers embrace me? | |
| They died to defend me, or live to deplore! | |
| |
| Where is my cabin door, fast by the wildwood? | 25 |
| Sisters and sire, did ye weep for its fall? | |
| Where is the mother that looked on my childhood? | |
| And where is the bosom-friend, dearer than all? | |
| O my sad heart! long abandoned by pleasure, | |
| Why did it dote on a fast-fading treasure? | 30 |
| Tears, like the rain-drop, may fall without measure, | |
| But rapture and beauty they cannot recall. | |
| |
| Yet, all its sad recollections suppressing, | |
| One dying wish my lone bosom can draw,— | |
| Erin, an exile bequeaths thee his blessing! | 35 |
| Land of my forefathers, Erin go bragh! | |
| Buried and cold, when my heart stills her motion, | |
| Green be thy fields, sweetest isle of the ocean! | |
| And thy harp-striking bards sing aloud with devotion,— | |
| Erin mavourneen, Erin go bragh! 1 | 40 |
