The Tricolour, Poems of the Irish Revolution/The Wild Geese
THE WILD GEESE
“Wild Geese are very numerous in this district, especially around Lough Esknahinny”—“Cork Examiner,” December 12, 1916.
I walked by Esknahinny at the waning of the moon,
As star by star came peeping to some celestial tune.
The little waves crept to me to call and fall away,
O, lone I was and lonesome to meet the breaking day.
I heard wind voices whisper and leaned to hear them speak;
I saw the moving shadows—and feared to turn and seek.
The slender reeds were shaking between me and the light,
And loneliness fell from me with the treasure of the night.
I heard dark wings flap by me towards the rising sun,
Dear birds so swift in passing I blessed them every one.
The wild geese had come back again, they passed me in the night.
Between me and the waning moon I watched them in their flight.
I had walked the paths of Kerry and dared not say the word;
I had trod the roads of Leinster all broken by the sword.
O Ulster, Munster, Connacht, He gave Who can restore,
The Wild Geese, the Wild Geese, they have come home once more.