Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922.
By T. W. Rolleston61. The Grave of Rury
C
evermore their sweet, unchanging song
Murmur in their stony channels
round O’Conor’s sepulchre in Cong.
year on year went by him like a dream,
While the far-off roar of conquest
murmured faintly like the singing stream.
men of Fechin, chanting round his grave.
Did they know, ah! did they know it,
what they buried by the babbling wave?
holy things and great have passed away;
Stone by stone the stately Abbey
falls and fades in passionless decay.
pale the broken arches glimmer through;
Dark upon the cloister-garden
dreams the shadow of the ancient yew.
flows, the meadow-sweet and fox-glove bloom.
Earth, the mother and consoler,
winds soft arms about the lonely tomb.
last of Gaelic monarchs of the Gael,
Slumbering by the young, eternal
river-voices of the western vale.