No 36.

I LOVE THE SONGS OF IRELAND.

I..

I LOVE the songs of Ireland,
For deep in each one dwells
The memory of a thousand years,
A tenderness that tells

Of deep, enduring, changeless love,
Of inspiration high,

Which throw a brilliancy across

Our dark and troubled sky..

II.

I love those strains our princes heard In rapture and delight,

When minstrels pour'd the song of love In banquet-hall of light;

Where many a plumed warrior sighed Beneath his coat of steel,

And beamy eyes looked down in vain, Love's softness to conceal.

III

I love the dear old Irish songs
Which lead us back again,

Through the wrapt mazes of the mind,
To some enchanted glen;

Where fairies once more dance beneath
Their own lov'd favourite tree,5
And pour upon the moonlight air
Their witching minstrelsy.

IV.

I love them, for, like beacon lights
Above the stormy waves,

They shone throughout our island's wreck
O'er martyred patriots' graves;
Nor demon hate, nor dastard fear,
Nor cold neglect, nor time,

Nor treachery could quench those lights
Which burn still, clear-sublime.

Sentimental Songs.

No. 1.

SONG.

I CANNOT SING OF LOVE TO-NIGHT.

I.

I CANNOT sing of love to-night,

My soul is tuned to notes of sadness; Not even thy blue eyes of light

Can bring to me one moment's gladness. The wine-cup shines for me in vain,

And music magic sweetness stealing O'er this lone heart but brings it pain. And stirs anew the fount of feeling, Which, gushing o'er the burning waste

Of blighted hopes and lost affections, Ah, no; I never more can taste

The Eden of youth's recollections.

II.

As some poor mariner that sees,

When daylight in the west's declining, A phantom isle on halcyon seas

In all its fairy splendour shining ; But when he nears its golden peaks,

A change comes o'er its trembling motion, The lovely, baseless vision breaks

And melts into the depths of ocean!

So fade away my dreams of bliss

That threw their passing splendours o'er me, That shone awhile before my sight,

Then quickly vanished from before me!

No. 2.

O KATHLEEN ! GUARD, OH ! GUARD THY HEART.

I.

O KATHLEEN! guard, oh! guard thy heart
From life's deep, poisonous sting;

Dare to be guileless as thou art

Now in thy opening spring.

II.

And when thy beauty shall have passed

Forever from thy brow ;

Oh! may thy young heart's bloom still last
As tenderly as now.

III.

See how the summer steals away
The rose's brightest bloom,
But cannot, even in decay

Destroy its rich perfume.

IV.

So may thy soul through life retain
Its sweets when years have passed,
Without a shade or cloud to stain
Its odour to the last.

No. 3.

OH! TURN AWAY THOSE EYES OF LIGHT.

I.

OH! turn away those eyes of light,

Since they can never beam for me: Thy smile though sweet, thy brow though bright;

Again can never bless my sight,

Young love, for I must part from thee.