Page:The Tricolour, Poems of the Irish Revolution.djvu/15



this time there was let loose a great tumult in the city. Fire and battle held Dublin for about a week, and then from out of it all, above the crash of falling houses and the roar of guns, over the crackling flames rose the tricolour, and for a few mad days it shone into the hearts of the people.

And then a wounded prisoner of war, by the name of James Connolly, was slain, and so was disbanded the wonderful Citizen Army which had arisen from the awful conditions of bad housing and miserable wages so prevalent in Ireland.

So Labour was shot down because it dared to be discontented with its fortunes.

At the same time Pearse, the idealist, surrendered to superior forces to save his countrymen. Rh