School: Clochar na Trócaire, Carn Domhnaigh

Location:
Ballylosky, Co. Donegal
Teachers:
An tSr. A. Nic Fhionnlaoich An tSr. M. Beinín
Browse
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1115, Page 244

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1115, Page 244

Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.

See copyright details.

Download

Open data

Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

  1. XML School: Clochar na Trócaire, Carn Domhnaigh
  2. XML Page 244
  3. XML “The Emereld Isle”

Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.

On this page

  1. Alas border minstrel the summons is vain
    For unstrung is the harp and forgotten the strain
    Which Erin once sung in her pride.
    And now robbed of the glories that circled her reign
    To the heart rending clank of a conquerors chain
    All tuneless she wanders the desolate plain
    With the blood of her patriots dyed
    II
    Gone gone are the days when the western gale
    Awoke every voice of the lake and the vale
    With the harp and the lute and the lyre
    When Justice uplifted her adomant shield
    While valour and freedom illumin'd the field,
    And thy free-born sons made the foeman to yield
    With a sword and a plumage of fire.
    III
    And now border minstrel the bigot and slave
    Pollute the pure land of the free-born brave
    The land of the sigh and the smile.
    Then accursed be the recreant heart that could sigh
    And wither'd the hand that would waken a string
    Till the angel of liberty wave her wild wing
    Again o'er the Emerald Isle.
    These last two songs were taken from an old hand written copybook which Mr. John M. Doherty unearthed in cleaning a workshop. It is the property of this great grandfather, and is supposed to be a hundred years old.
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. genre
      1. poetry
        1. folk poetry (~9,504)
    Language
    English
    Informant
    Mr John Mc Doherty
    Gender
    Male