AS vanquished Erin wept beside The Boyne's ill-fated river, She saw where Discord, in the tide, Had dropped his loaded quiver. "Lie hid," she cried, "ye venomed darts, Where mortal eye may shun you; Lie hid, -- the stain of manly hearts That bled for me is on you." But vain her wish, her weeping vain, -- As time too well hath taught her: Each year the fiend returns again, And dives into that water; And brings, triumphant, from beneath His shafts of desolation, And sends them, winged with worse than death, Through all her maddening nation. Alas for her who sits and mourns, Even now beside that river, -- Unwearied still the fiend returns, And stored is still his quiver. "When will this end, ye Powers of Good?" She weeping asks forever; But only hears, from out that flood, The demon answer, "Never!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ODES I, 9. TO WINTER by QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS JUBILATE AGNO: GARDNER'S TALENT by CHRISTOPHER SMART TWELVE SONNETS: 10. THY WHITENESS by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) A NEW HAMPSHIRE BOY by MORRIS GILBERT BISHOP THE BLIND LEAD THE BLIND by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN HOOKER'S ACROSS by GEORGE HENRY BOKER |