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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE SHANNON by AUBREY DE VERE

First Line: RIVER OF BILLOWS, TO WHOSE MIGHTY HEAR
Last Line: MY LIPS WITH LIMERICK'S WRONG, WITH AUGHRIM'S WOES?
Subject(s): SHANNON (RIVER), IRELAND;

RIVER of billows, to whose mighty heart
The tide-wave rushes of the Atlantic sea;
River of quiet depths, by cultured lea,
Romantic wood, or city's crowded mart;
River of old poetic founts, which start
From their lone mountain-cradles, wild and free,
Nursed with the fawns, lulled by the woodlark's glee,
And cushat's hymeneal song apart:
River of chieftains, whose baronial halls,
Like veteran warders, watch each wave-worn steep,
Portumna's towers, Bunratty's royal walls,
Carrick's stern rock, the Geraldine's gray keep, --
River of dark mementos! must I close
My lips with Limerick's wrong, with Aughrim's woes?



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