Page:A Tribute and a Claim.djvu/2

And so they came, and forth they went,
          Those warrior sons of Eire,
To battle for the right
          On land and sea and air
They wrote their blazing scripts of gallantry
          That shall endure while men love noble deeds
And tell the tales of rushing tides of battle.
          The full telling of their glory and their valour
Is yet not done nor ever shall be
          Since, for every tale that finds the fixed imperishability of print
And the proud prominence of the living page
          There are countless deeds as brave
Hidden away in secret shade
          Until they come to light again,
On the great unfolding and revelation of Resurrection Day.

Oh ! hide your heads in shame, you
          Croaking sarpers of a narrow creed,
Who would deny to Ireland
          The golden glory of those shining deeds
That, by their brightness have done more
          To root out of human hearts
The dark shadows of a darker age
          Than all the preachings of well-intending missioners of peace and love
Twixt Sassenach and Gael,
          For the deed lives while the word is oft-time wasted on the wind:
And the supernal splendour of their valour
          Is as the sunburst rising from the sea
Scattering the shadows of a long and evil night.

Retire ye to your tents of shame
          You puny prattlers
Who would debase the golden coinage of their heroism
          Of that wondrous loyalty and deep devotion
That sanctified the Common clay of man
          And gave to life the privilege of dying
That Truth and Liberty and Honour may survive.

We take pride in that
          From North and South they came
From South and North came they
          And forth they went
Went to where danger shone with dazzling brightness
          Flinging its challenge to their dauntless hearts.
And answered Eugene Esmonde and the other gallant men of Eire
          Who, winging through the lightning shafts of war,
Won a splendid immortality
          And, dying, left a deathless heritage
To their race and motherland.
          Such hallowed glory ‘tis
That make men bare their heads in pride and reverence
          For this magnificent redemption of a Nation’s honour.

Their earthly flame went out, but their spirits release
          Set new suns in the heavens to light the darkness of our days
And to cement that finer feeling of brotherhood and understanding
That sweetly and surely is growing
          Through the rotting roots of olden hates,
Until its incense shall dispel
          The noxious fumes of cancerous spleens,
And best forgotten ills.