Sad was the note, and wild its fall; As winds that moan at night forlorn Along the isles of Fion-Gall, When, for O'Connors child to mourn, Or voice, but from the fox's den, Say, why should dwell in place so wild Sweet lady! she no more inspires Green Erin's hearts with beauty's power, As, in the palace of her sires, She bloomed a peerless flower. Like dews on lilies of the spring. And fix'd on empty space, why burn Her eyes with momentary wildness; And wherefore do they then return To more than woman's mildness? Dishevell❜d are her raven-locks; On Connocht Moran's name she calls; And oft amidst the lonely rocks She sings sweet madrigals. Bright as the bow that spans the storm, The hunter and the deer a shade! Sweet mourner! those are shadows vain That cross the twilight of her brain; "O'Connor's child, I was the bud Of Erin's royal tree of glory. A death-scene rushes on my sight; The bloody feud the fatal night, When, chafing Connocht Moran's scorn, They call'd my hero basely born And bade him choose a meaner bride Than from O'Connor's house of pride. Their tribe, they said, their high degree Was sung in Tara's psaltery; Witness their Eath's victorious brand, And Cathal of the bloody hand: Glory (they said) and power and honour Were in the mansion of O'Connor; But he, my loved one, bore in field A meaner crest upon his shield." "Ah, brothers! what did it avail That fiercely and triumphantly That barons by our standard rode, Or peal-fires for your jubilee Upon an hundred mountains glowed? What though the lords of tower and dome, From Shannon to the North-sea-foam, Thought ye your iron hands of pride Could break the knot that love had tied? "At bleating of the wild watch-fold 'Oh, come with me: Come with thy belted forestere, And I, beside the lake of swans, Shall hunt for thee the fallow-deer; And build thy hut, and bring thee home The wild-fowl and the honey-comb; And berries from the wood provide, And play my clarshech by thy side. Then come, my love!' How could I stay? Our nimble stag-hounds tracked the way, And I pursued, by moonless skies, The light of Connocht Moran's eyes." "And fast and far, before the star Of day-spring rushed we through the glade, And saw at dawn the lofty bawn Of Castle-Connor fade! Sweet was to us the hermitage Of this unplough'd, untrodden shore; For man's neglect we loved it more. "Warm in his death-wounds sepulchred, Alas! my warrior spirit brave, Nor mass, nor ulla-lulla heard Lamenting soothe his grave. Dragged to their hated mansion back, I knew not, for my soul was black "But Heaven, at last, my soul's eclipse Did with a vision bright inspire: I woke, and felt upon my lips A prophetess's fire. Thrice in the east a war-drum beat, I heard the Saxon's trumpet sound And ranged, as to the judgment-seat, My guilty, trembling brothers round. Clad in the helm and shield they came; For now De Bourgo's sword and flame Had ravaged Ulster's boundaries, And lighted up the midnight-skies. That standard of O'Connor's sway Was in the turret where I lay; That standard, with so dire a look, As ghastly shone the moon and pale, I gave, that every bosom shook Beneath its iron mail. "They would have cross'd themselves; all mute, Dire was the look, that o'er their backs They would have pray'd to burst the spell; But, at the stamping of my foot Each hand down pow'rless fell! But know, that where its sheet unrolls, That mantles by your walls, shall be Away, away to Athunree! Where downward, when the sun shall fall, "A bolt that overhung our dome, Procter. Bryan Walter Procter, als Dichter nur unter dem Namen Barry Cornwall bekannt, ward um 1790 in London geboren, widmete sich der Rechtswissenschaft und lebt als Advocat in seiner Vaterstadt. Seit dem Jahre 1815 trat er jedoch nie unter seinem eigenen Namen als Dichter auf und veröffentlichte bis jetzt: Dramatic Scenes; A Sicilian Story; Marcian Colonna; the Flood of Thessaly, Mirandola, viele kleinere Poesieen, Lieder u. A. m. Reiche Phantasie, Geist und seltene Herrschaft über Form und Sprache sind ihm eigen, aber sein Streben nach Natürlichkeit verleitet ihn oft gerade zum Gegentheil. Unter seinen Liedern ist viel überaus Gelungenes. Here's a health to thee, Mary, The drinkers are gone, To think of home and thee, Mary. Song. There are some who may shine o'er thee, Mary, And a few as fair, But the summer air Is not more sweet to me, Mary. |