Volume 4 / Part 2 — THE O'KAVANAGH

I.

The Saxons had met, and the banquet was

spread,

And the wine in fleet circles the jubilee led;

And the banners that hung round the festal that

night,

Seemed brighter by far than when lifted in fight.

II.

In came the O'Kavanagh, fair as the morn,

When earth to new beauty and vigour is born;

They shrank from his glance like the waves

from the prow,

For nature's nobility sat on his brow.

III.

Attended alone by his vassal and bard;

No trumpet to herald—no clansmen to guard—

He came not attended by steed or by steel:

No danger he knew, for no fear did he feel.

IV.

In eye and on lip his high confidence smiled—

So proud, yet so knightly—so gallant, yet mild;

He moved like a god through the light of that

hall,

And a smile, full of courtliness, proffered to all.

V.

"Come pledge us, lord chieftain! come pledge

us!" they cried;

Unsuspectingly free to the pledge he replied;

And this was the peace-branch O'Kavanagh

bore—

"The friendships to come, not the feuds that

are o'er."

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VI.

But, minstrel! why cometh a change o'er thy

theme?

Why sing of red battle—what dream dost thou

dream?

Ha! "Treason"'s the cry, and "Revenge" is

the call!

As the swords of the Saxon surrounded the

hall.

VII.

A kingdom for Angelo's mind! to portray

Green Erin's undaunted avenger, that day;

The far-flashing sword, and the death-darting

eye,

Like some comet commissioned with wrath from

the sky.

VIII.

Through the ranks of the Saxon he hewed his

red way—

Through lances, and sabres, and hostile array;

And, mounting his charger, he left them to tell

The tale of that feast, and its bloody farewell!

IX.

And now on the Saxons his clansmen advance,

With a shout from each heart, and a soul in each

lance.

He rushed, like a storm, o'er the night-covered

heath,

And swept through their ranks, like the angel of

death.

Then hurrah! for thy glory, young chieftain,

hurrah!

Oh! had we such lightning-souled heroes to-

day,

Again would our "Sunburst" * expand in the

gale,

And freedom exult o'er the green Innisfail.

——J. A. Shea.

* Irish national banner.

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