IX.

And fast and far, before the star

Of day-spring, rush'd we through the glade,

' And saw at dawn the lofty bawnh

'Of Castle-Connor fade.

'Sweet was to us the hermitage

'Of this unplough'd, untrodden shore;
'Like birds all joyous from the cage,
'For man's neglect we loved it more.

' And well he knew, my huntsman dear,
To search the game with hawk and spear;
'While I, his ev'ning food to dress,

Would sing to him in happiness.

'But, oh, that midnight of despair!
. When I was doom'd to rend my hair:
The night, to me, of shrieking sorrow!
The night, to him, that had no morrow!

X.

'When all was hush'd, at even tide,

I heard the baying of their beagle:

h Ancient Fortification.

Be hush'd! my Connocht Moran cried,

''Tis but the screaming of the eagle.

'Alas! 'twas not the eyrie's sound;

Their bloody bands had track'd us out;

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'In vain no voice the adder charms;

'Their weapons cross'd my sheltering arms :

'Another's sword has laid him low

'Another's and another's;

'And every hand that dealt the blow

Ah me! it was a brother's!

Yes, when his moanings died away,

Their iron hands had dug the clay,

And o'er his burial turf they trod, 'And I beheld- Oh God! Oh God! 'His life-blood oozing from the sod!

.

XI.

Warm in his death-wounds sepulchred,

'Alas! my warrior's spirit brave,

'Nor mass nor ulla-lulla i heard,

Lamenting, soothe his grave.

Dragg'd to their hated mansion back,

'How long in thraldom's grasp I lay, 'I knew not, for my soul was black, ' And knew no change of night or day. 'One night of horror round me grew ; 'Or if I saw, or felt, or knew,

'Twas but when those grim visages,

'The angry brothers of my race,

Glared on each eye-ball's aching throb,

'And check'd my bosom's pow'r to sob, 'Or when my heart with pulses drear, 'Beat like a death-watch to my ear.

The Irish lamentation for the dead.

XII.

'But Heav'n, 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;

Was in the turret where I lay;

That standard, with so dire a look,

XIII.

'And go! (I cried,) the combat seek,

'Ye hearts that unappalled bore

The anguish of a sister's shriek,

'Go!and return no more!

"For sooner guilt the ordeal brand

'Shall grasp unhurt, than ye shall hold

'The banner with victorious hand,

'Beneath a sister's curse unroll'd.

O stranger! by my country's loss! And by my love! and by the cross! 'I swear I never could have spoke

'The curse that sever'd nature's yoke ;

But that a spirit o'er me stood,

'And fired me with the wrathful mood;

And frenzy to my heart was giv'n,

To speak the malison of heaven.