Page:Songs, Legends, and Ballads.djvu/117

Rh Beneath lies the symbol of faith and of passion
 * Alike of the Pagan and Christian priest!

When native laws by native kings
 * At Tara were decreed,

The grand old Gheber worship
 * Was the form of Erin's creed.

The Sun, Life-Giver, was God on high;
 * Men worshipped the Power they saw;

And they kept the faith as the ages rolled
 * By the solemn Beltane law.

Each year, on the Holy Day, was quenched
 * The household fires of the land;

And the Druid priest, at the midnight hour,
 * Brought forth the flaming brand,—

The living spark for the Nation's hearths,—
 * From the Monarch's hand it came.

Whose fire at Tara spread the sign—
 * And the peopje were One by the flame!