Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922.

By Patrick MacGill

181. Slainthe!

I SPEAK with a proud tongue of the people who were

And the people who are,

The worthy of Ardara, the Rosses and Inishkeel,

My kindred—

The people of the hills and the dark-haired passes

My neighbours on the lift of the brae,

In the lap of the valley.

To them Slainthe!

I speak of the old men,

The wrinkle-rutted,

Who dodder about foot-weary—

For their day is as the day that has been and is no more—

Who warm their feet by the fire,

And recall memories of the times that are gone;

Who kneel in the lamplight and pray

For the peace that has been theirs—

And who beat one dry-veined hand against another

Even in the sun—

For the coldness of death is on them.

I speak of the old women

Who danced to yesterday’s fiddle

And dance no longer.

They sit in a quiet place and dream

And see visions

Of what is to come,

Of their issue,

Which has blossomed to manhood and womanhood—

And seeing thus

They are happy

For the day that was leaves no regrets,

And peace is theirs,

And perfection.

I speak of the strong men

Who shoulder their burdens in the hot day,

Who stand in the market place

And bargain in loud voices,

Showing their stock to the world.

Straight the glance of their eyes—

Broad-shouldered,

Supple.

Under their feet the holms blossom,

The harvest yields.

And their path is of prosperity.

I speak of the women,

Strong-hipped, full-bosomed,

Who drive the cattle to graze at dawn,

Who milk the cows at dusk.

Grace in their homes,

And in the crowded ways

Modest and seemly—

Mother of children!

I speak of the children

Of the many townlands,

Blossoms of the Bogland,

Flowers of the Valley,

Who know not yesterday, nor to-morrow,

And are happy,

The pride of those who have begot them.

And thus it is,

Ever and always,

And Ardara, the Rosses and Inishkeel—

Here, as elsewhere,

The Weak, the Strong, and the Blossoming—

And thus my kindred.

To them Slainthe.