Page:Songs, Legends, and Ballads.djvu/155

Rh Justice lives, though judgment lingers—angels' feet are heavy shod— But a planet's years are moments in th' eternal day of God!


 * From the war and want of a thousand years,
 * From the mark of sword and the rust of chain,
 * From the smoke and blood of the penal laws,
 * The Irish men and the Irish cause
 * Come out in the front of the field again!

What says the stranger to such a vitality? What says the statesman to this nationality? Flung on the shore of a sea of defeat. Hardly the swimmers have sprung to their feet. When the nations are thrilled by a clarion-word. And Burke, the philosopher-statesman, is heard.