From the heretic girl of my soul shall I fly, To seek somewhere else a more orthodox kiss? No! perish the hearts and the laws that try Truth, valour, or love, by a standard like this! SUBLIME WAS THE WARNING. AIR-The Black Joke. SUBLIME was the warning which liberty spoke, And grand was the moment when Spaniards awoke It was life and revenge from the Conqueror's chains! Oh, liberty! let not this spirit have rest Till it move like a breeze o'er the waves of the west Give the light of your look to each sorrowing spot, Nor, oh! be the Shamrock of Erin forgot, While you add to your Garland the Olive of Spain! If the fame of your fathers, bequeath'd with their rights, Give to country its charm and to home its de lights, If deceit be a wound, and suspicion a stain; Then ye men of Iberia! our cause is the same— And oh! may his tomb want a tear and a name, Who would ask for a nobler, a holier death, Than to breathe his last sigh into Victory's breast, For the Shamrock of Erin and Olive of Spain! Ye Blakes and O'Donnels, whose fathers resign'd The green hills of their youth among strangers to find That repose which, at home, they had sigh'd for in vain, Breathe a hope that the magical flame which you light, May be felt yet in Erin, as calm and as bright; And forgive even Albion, while blushing she draws, Like a truant, her sword, in the long-slighted cause Of the Shamrock of Erin and Olive of Spain! God prosper the cause.-Oh! it cannot but thrive, While the pulse of one patriot heart is alive, Its devotion to free and its rights to maintain: Then how sainted by sorrow its martyrs will die! The finger of glory shall point where they lie; While far from the footsteps of coward or slave, The young Spirit of Freedom shall shelter their grave, Beneath Shamrocks of Erin and Olives of Spain! BELIEVE ME IF ALL THOSE ENDEARING AIR-My Lodging is on the cold Ground. BELIEVE me if all those endearing young charms, Which I gaze on so fondly to-day, Were to change by to-morrow and fleet in my arms Like fairy-gifts fading away— Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art, Let thy loveliness fade as it will; And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart Would entwine itself verdantly still. It is not while beauty and youth are thine own, And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear, That the fervour and faith of a soul can be known To which time will but make thee more dear! |