Page:Poems, Volume 1, Coates, 1916.djvu/174

152 For they lie asleep in a land of strangers,—

Far from the home their fame endears—

The Inniskillings, the Connaught Rangers,

The Dublin Fusiliers;

And the little plant they loved so well—

Better than fairest flower that blows—

Is set apart

In Britannia's heart

With the Scottish thistle and the rose:

Is set apart, and never again

Shall human eyes the shamrock see

Without a thought of the heroes slain

Whose splendid loyalty,

Stronger than ancient hate or wrong,

Sublimed them 'midst the battle's hell—

A tidal wave

From the souls of the brave,

That made them deathless as they fell!