Oh for the swords, etc.
Oh for the kings who flourished then!
Oh for the pomp that crowned them,
When hearts and hands of freeborn men
Were all the ramparts round them.
When, safe built on bosoms true,
The throne was but the centre,
Round which Love a circle drew,
That Treason durst not enter.
Oh for the kings who flourished then!
Oh for the pomp that crowned them,
When hearts and hands of freeborn men
Were all the ramparts round them!
ST. SENANUS AND THE LADY.
ST. SENANUS.[1]
"Oh! haste and leave this sacred isle,
Unholy bark, ere morning smile;
For on thy deck, though dark it be,
A female form I see;
And I have sworn this sainted sod
Shall ne'er by woman's feet be trod."
THE LADY.
"Oh! Father, send not hence my bark,
Thro' wintry winds and billows dark:
I come with humble heart to share
Thy morn and evening prayer;
Nor mine the feet, oh! holy Saint,
The brightness of thy sod to taint."
The Lady's prayer Senanus spurned;
The winds blew fresh, the bark returned;
But legends hint, that had the maid
Till morning's light delayed,
And given the saint one rosy smile,
She ne'er had left his lonely isle.
[1] In a metrical life of St. Senanus, which is taken from an old Kilkenny
MS., and may be found among the "_Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae_," we are told
of his flight to the island of Scattery, and his resolution not to admit
any woman of the party; he refused to receive even a sister saint, St.
Pages:
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373