Page:Irish minstrelsy, vol 2 - Hardiman.djvu/45

Rh

Too long have the churls$2$ in dark bondage oppressed me,
 * Too long have I cursed them in anguish and gloom;

Yet hope with no vision of comfort has blessed me—
 * The cave is my shelter—the rude rock my home:

Save Donn and his kindred,$3$ my sorrow had shaken
 * All friends from my side, when at evening, forsaken,

I sought the lone fort, proud to hear him awaken
 * The hymn of deliverance breathing for me.

He told how the heroes were fall'n and degraded,
 * And scorn dashed the tear their affliction would claim!

But Phelim and Heber,$4$ whose children betrayed it,
 * The land shall relume with the light of their fame!

The fleet is prepared, and proud Charles is commanding,
 * And wide o'er the wave the white sail is expanding,

The dark brood of Luther shall quail at their landing—
 * The Gael, like a tempest, shall burst on the foe!—

VOL. II.