Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/1051

 848. Requiem

Under the wide and starry sky Dig the grave and let me lie: Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me: Here he lies where he long'd to be; Home is the sailor, home from sea,  And the hunter home from the hill.     T. W. ROLLESTON  b. 1857   849. The Dead at Clonmacnois

FROM THE IRISH OF ANGUS O'GILLAN

In a quiet water'd land, a land of roses, Stands Saint Kieran's city fair; And the warriors of Erin in their famous generations Slumber there.

There beneath the dewy hillside sleep the noblest Of the clan of Conn, Each below his stone with name in branching Ogham And the sacred knot thereon.

There they laid to rest the seven Kings of Tara, There the sons of Cairbrè sleep— Battle-banners of the Gael that in Kieran's plain of crosses Now their final hosting keep.

And in Clonmacnois they laid the men of Teffia, And right many a lord of Breagh; Deep the sod above Clan Creidè and Clan Conaill, Kind in hall and fierce in fray.