Page:Songs, Legends, and Ballads.djvu/118

106 And Baal was God! till Patrick came,
 * By the Holy Name inspired;

On the Beltane night, in great Tara's sight,
 * His pile at Slane was fired.

And the deed that was death was the Nation's life.
 * And the doom of the Pagan bane;

For Erin still keeps Beltane night.
 * But lights her lamp at Slane!

Though fourteen centuries pile their dust
 * On the mound of the Druid's grave,

Bright the fire
 * That Holy Patrick gave!

Let him heed
 * Who studieth creed and race:

Old times and gods are dead, and we
 * Are far from the ancient place;

The waves of centuries, war, and waste.
 * Of famine, gallows, and gaol,

Have swept our land; but the world to-night
 * Sees the Beltane Fire of the Gael!