Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Celts and Saxons (Author: Thomas Osborne Davis)

p.354

1
  1. We hate the Saxon and the Dane,
    We hate the Norman men—
    We cursed their greed for blood and gain,
    We curse them now again.
    Yet start not, Irish-born man!
    If you're to Ireland true,
    We heed not blood, nor creed, nor clan—
    We have no curse for you.
  2. We have no curse for you or yours,
    But Friendship's ready grasp,

    p.355

    And Faith to stand by you and yours
    Unto our latest gasp—
    To stand by you against all foes,
    Howe'er, or whence they come,
    With traitor arts, or bribes, or blows,
    From England, France, or Rome.
  3. What matter that at different shrines
    We pray unto one God?
    What matter that at different times
    Your fathers won this sod?
    In fortune and in name we're bound
    By stronger links than steel;
    And neither can be safe nor sound
    But in the other's weal.
  4. As Nubian rocks, and Ethiop sand
    Long drifting down the Nile,
    Built up old Egypt's fertile land
    For many a hundred mile,
    So Pagan clans to Ireland came,
    And clans of Christendom,
    Yet joined their wisdom and their fame
    To build a nation from.
  5. Here came the brown Phoenician,
    The man of trade and toil—
    Here came the proud Milesian,
    A hungering for spoil;
    And the Firbolg and the Cymry,
    And the hard, enduring Dane,
    And the iron Lords of Normandy,
    With the Saxons in their train.

    6. p.356

  6. And oh! it were a gallant deed
    To show before mankind,
    How every race and every creed
    Might be by love combined—
    Might be combined, yet not forget
    The fountains whence they rose,
    As, filled by many a rivulet,
    The stately Shannon flows.
  7. Nor would we wreak our ancient feud
    On Belgian or on Dane,
    Nor visit in a hostile mood
    The hearths of Gaul or Spain;
    But long as on our country lies
    The Anglo-Norman yoke,
    Their tyranny we'll stigmatize,
    And God's revenge invoke.
  8. We do not hate, we never cursed,
    Nor spoke a foeman's word
    Against a man in Ireland nursed,
    Howe'er we thought he erred;
    So start not, Irish-born man,
    If you're to Ireland true,
    We heed not race, nor creed, nor clan,
    We've hearts and hands for you.