Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By Songs and Ballads. II. “The Dead Who Died for Ireland”Ellen O’Leary (1831–1889)
T
Let not their memory die,
But solemn and bright, like stars at night,
Be they throned for aye on high.
The noble, gallant Three,
Whose last fond prayer on the gallows’ stair
Was for Ireland’s liberty.
In the lonely prison cell;
Far, far apart from each kindred heart;
Of their death-pangs none can tell.
In exile—poor—in pain;
Dreaming sweet dreams of the hills and streams
They never should see again.
Let not their memory die,
But solemn and bright, like stars at night,
Be they throned for aye on high.