106
SONGS, LEGENDS, AND BALLADS.
And Baal was God! till Patrick came,
By the Holy Name inspired;
On the Beltane night, in great Tara's sight,
His pile at Slane was fired.
And the deed that was death was the Nation's life.
And the doom of the Pagan bane;
For Erin still keeps Beltane night.
But lights her lamp at Slane!
Though fourteen centuries pile their dust
On the mound of the Druid's grave,
To-night is the Beltane! Bright the fire
That Holy Patrick gave!
To-night is the Beltane! Let him heed
Who studieth creed and race:
Old times and gods are dead, and we
Are far from the ancient place;
The waves of centuries, war, and waste.
Of famine, gallows, and gaol,
Have swept our land; but the world to-night
Sees the Beltane Fire of the Gael!
