Page:The Spirit of the Nation.djvu/135

Rh And, observing more closely, she saw with much pain, That his tusks and his claws were appearing again, A fact she'd neglected before.

From that hour she grew dangerously civil, indeed, And declared he should be, ere long, totally freed From every dishonouring chain. "The moment, my dearest, our friend, the Fox, draws Those nasty sharp things from your Majesty's jaws, You must bound free as air o'er the plain."

But the captive sprung from his dungeon floor, And he bow'd the woods with a scornful roar, And his burning eyes flash'd flame; And as echo swell'd the shout afar, The stormy joy of Freedom's war O'er the blast of the desert came.

And the Lion laugh'd, and his mirth was loud As the stunning burst of a thunder cloud, And he shook his wrathful mane; And hollow sounds from his lash'd sides come, Like the sullen roll of a 'larum drum, He snapp'd, like a reed, the chain, And the Serpent saw that her reign was o'er, And hissing, she fled from the lion's roar.

—"Noċ mbainim sin do."

I.

Arise, men of Erin! for liberty rally, The rights of your own cherished island defend, Let freedom's wild chaunt from each mountain and valley, Sublime to the throne of the Godhead ascend; Let feuds be forgotten—the curse of our land— Let parties no longer divide it in two; And while we together in brotherhood stand, Our watchword be—Freedom and.