Page:Irish minstrelsy, vol 2 - Hardiman.djvu/115

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
JACOBITE RELICS.
103


ON THE DOWNFALL OF THE GAEL.

BY HENRY GRATTAN CURRAN.


Weep! weep! for agony and shame
With deepening gloom the Gael invest;
Fall'n is each proud and patriot name.
On which a nation's hope might rest.

What are they now?—a remnant spared.
Writhing from desolation's tread—
Pale pilgrims, who the deep have dared.
And traced the sterile waste outspread.

A shattered bark's disheartened crew
O'er-gazing from the crowded deck;
The sheeted wave that flashes through.
Or bursts above the labouring wreck.