Poems.
Wilde, Lady, 1826–1896.
Poems
by Speranza (Lady Wilde)
Second Edition
Glasgow:
Cameron & Ferguson,
88 to 94 West Nile Street.
London:
12 Ave Maria Lane.
page: iii
DEDICATION.
To Ireland.
I.
- MY COUNTRY, wounded to the heart,
- Could I but flash along thy soul
- Electric power to rive apart
- The thunder‐clouds that round thee roll,
- And, by my burning words, uplift
- Thy life from out Death’s icy drift,
- Till the full splendours of our age
- Shone round thee for thy heritage—
- As Miriam’s, by the Red Sea strand
- Clashing proud cymbals, so my hand
- Would strike thy harp,
- Loved Ireland!
II.
- She flung her triumphs to the stars
- In glorious chants for freedom won,
- While over Pharaoh’s gilded cars
- The fierce, death‐bearing waves rolled on;
- I can but look in God’s great face,
- And pray Him for our fated race,
- To come in Sinai thunders down,
- And, with His mystic radiance, crown
- Some Prophet‐Leader, with command
- To break the strength of Egypt’s band,
- And set thee free,
- Loved Ireland!
page: iv
III.
- New energies, from higher source,
- Must make the strong life‐currents flow,
- As Alpine glaciers in their course
- Stir the deep torrents ’neath the snow.
- The woman’s voice dies in the strife
- Of Liberty’s awakening life;
- We wait the hero heart to lead,
- The hero, who can guide at need,
- And strike with bolder, stronger hand,
- Though towering hosts his path withstand
- Thy golden harp,
- Loved Ireland!
IV.
- For I can breathe no trumpet call,
- To make the slumb’ring Soul arise;
- I only lift the funeral‐pall,
- That so God’s light might touch thine eyes,
- And ring the silver prayer‐bell clear,
- To rouse thee from thy trance of fear;
- Yet, if thy mighty heart has stirred,
- Even with one pulse‐throb at my word,
- Then not in vain my woman’s hand
- Has struck thy gold harp while I stand,
- Waiting thy rise
- Loved Ireland!
page: v
CONTENTS.
- Dedication,—To Ireland, iii
- The Brothers, 7
- The Famine Year, 10
- The Enigma, 12
- The Voice of the Poor, 14
- A Supplication, 15
- Foreshadowings, 17
- To a Despondent Nationalist, 20
- Signs of the Times, 21
- The Old Man’s Blessing, 23
- Man’s Mission, 25
- A Lament, 27
- The Young Patriot Leader, 28
- Attendite Popule, 30
- Forward, 30
- Have Ye Counted the Cost, 33
- The Year of Revolutions, 35
- Ruins, 36
- Discipline, 41
- The Exodus, 43
- The Faithless Shepherds, 45
- Work While It Is Called To‐Day, 47
- To‐Day, 50
- A Remonstrance, 52
- France in ’93, 53
- The Fall of the Tyrants, 55
- Who Will Show Us Any Good? 59
- A Lament for the Potato, 63
- Have We Done Well For Ireland, 65
- William Carleton, 66
- The New Path, 68
- O’Connell, 71
- Aspirations, 72
- The Parable of Life, 75
- Vanitas, 80
- Fatality, 81
- Destiny, 82
- Memory, 84
- Corinne’s Last Love‐Song, 85
- The Dying Christian, 85
- Sympathies with the Universal, 87
- La Via Dolorosa, 88
- Shadows From Life, 89
-
page: vi
- Wanderings through European Literature:
-
Le Réveille,
97
- Our Fatherland, 98
- The Knight’s Pledge, 100
- Opportunity, 101
- King Erick’s Faith, 102
- “For Norge!” 103
- The Fountain in the Forest, 105
- Salvation, 108
- Misery is Mystery, 109
- Farewell! 110
- Catarina, 110
- The Poet at Court, 111
- The Mystic Tree, 112
- ’Tis Not Upon Earth, 113
- The Itinerant Singing Girl, 114
- Ignez de Castro, 115
- The Waiwode, 117
- The Comparison,119
- Budris and His Sons, 121
- The Lady Beatriz, 123
- A Servian Song, 124
- Instability, 125
- A Warning, 126
- Cassandra, 128
- Undine, 132
- The Past, 136
- The Fisherman, 138
- The Ideal, 139
- The Exile, 142
- Death Wishes, 143
- Hymn to the Cross, 144
- Jesus to the Soul, 145
- Tristan and Isolde, 146
- Thekla: a Swedish Saga—
- Why Weepest Thou? 168
- Suleima to Her Lover, 169
- A La Sombra De Mis Cabellos, 169
- Constancy, 170
- The Fate of the Lyrist, 171
- The Poet’s Destiny, 172
- Desillusion, 172
- The Prisoners, 173
- The Dawn, 176
- An Appeal to Ireland, 178
