Page:Poems, Volume 1, Coates, 1916.djvu/173



LITTLE plant, so meek and slight,

Tinct with the emerald of the sea

Which like a mother, day and night,

Croons melodies to thee;

Emblem of Erin's hope and pride!

Though crushed and trampled under foot,

Thou still art found

The meadows round,

Up-springing from thine own sweet root!

Of sorrow thou hast been the sign

Through weary, unforgiving years;

The dews upon thy tender vine

Have seemed thy country's tears;

Now, now, forevermore, thou art

Symbol of all that's brave and true—

Blest as a smile

Of thy sunlit isle,

In the Old World honored, and the New!