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Freedom! when thy children sought This their mountainous retreat,Vainly they thy semblance bought, To make their thraldom more complete.Freed, indeed, from temporal power, In savage wilds they long remained;But in that dark and suffering hour, While ignorance and error reigned,Rome riveted her fetters on the mind,Ere o'er their lofty hills the light of knowledge shined.
Shannon! soon thy waters' bound A proverb of reproach became;And e'en their countrymen were found To pour contempt on Connaught's name.Poor, despised, her people grew, Exiles on their native shore.Shannon! thou conspiredst, too, Their banishment to aid the more;But now propitious flows thy circling tide,Uniting those whom thou didst once divide.
