Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/1070

 THOMAS WILLIAM ROLLESTON

866 The Dead at Clonmacnois

FROM THE IRISH OF ANGUS o'ciLLAN

IN a quiet water'd land, a land of roses, Stands Saint Kicran'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 t?even Kings of Tara,

There the sonb of Cairbre bleep 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 Creide and Clan Conaill, Kind in hall and fierce in fray.

��Many and many a son of Conn the Hundred-Fighter

In the red earth lies at rest; Many a blue eye of Clan Colman the turf covers,

Many a swan-white breast.

�� �