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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE EXILES SPEAK TO IRELAND, by SHANE LESLIE Poet's Biography First Line: Art not dead, o mother, leaping Last Line: On a hundred seas. | |||
ART not dead, O mother, leaping Thus toward the fight? Wounded, thou wert only sleeping In thy armoured might; They had never killed the weeping On thy branded sight. We were building towns, and sowing Corn and tree and vine; We had gleaned the gold-dust flowing On the southern line, We who thought to own the lowing Herds of Argentine. Didst thou watch us how we scattered, How we fought and cried? Didst thou see the foreign tattered Banners at our side? All the gates of war we battered, Every cause we tried. Is there better store in 'Derry Than the garnered south; Honey on the rocks of Kerry, Silver under Howth, And the gold the fairies bury At each river mouth? Thou, O Ireland! art and wast in All our dreaming low, And thy spirit everlasting Makes this seeming so, Thro' our sad remembrance casting Rays of gleaming woe. In our mirth and in our dirges Thou hast ever part, While thy restless loving urges On the Gaelic heart; Children born beyond the surges Whisper what thou art. Thou art heart-sick, calling, Ireland, In the foreign breeze; Thou art stricken, holy sireland, In our wealth and ease, Thou art still the beckoning fireland On a hundred seas. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...REBEL MOTHER'S LULLABY by SHANE LESLIE IRELAND TO-DAY by SHANE LESLIE THE PATER OF THE CANNON by SHANE LESLIE FAIRY TALE by KATHERINE MANSFIELD THE COMING OF WAR: ACTAEON by EZRA POUND NEIGHBORS by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON A BROKEN APPOINTMENT by THOMAS HARDY THE GARDEN SEAT by THOMAS HARDY |
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