VERSES Written when a detachment of Yeomen were sent against the rebel army.
VERSES
Written when a detachment of Yeomen were sent against the rebel army. [1]
Oh! my gallant dear defenders,
Beloved Yeomen! Erin's pride!
Every hope my soul surrenders,
If we thus your force divide.
When, to meet a savage foe,5
Each exulting hero armed,
Weeping I beheld them go,
Every fear my heart alarmed.
Yes, I marked the electric flame
Run thro' every bosom bold,10
As o'erjoyed, each heard his name
In the glorious list enrolled.
In the hour of doubt and terror,
For myself I felt no fear,
But I mourned my country's error,15
Shed for her the bitter tear.
And for you, beloved Yeomen!
Oh! what tears I shed for you!
Save them Heaven! from foes inhuman,
Shield those breasts so firm, so true.20
Must those chosen youths then perish?
Is it thus, just Heaven! decreed?
Must the fondest hope we cherish,
Must our gallant Yeomen bleed?
No, with omens more auspicious,25
Linda, cheer thy trembling heart
Heaven shall hear thy prayers propitious,
Heaven shall take thy heroes' part!
All my wishes Heaven hath granted,
If, my fears and sorrows past,30
I shall see these youths undaunted
Gloriously return at last.
But if, o'er my country lowering,
Ruin must her banners wave,
Sheltered from the storm devouring,35
Let me find a timely grave.
Notes
[1] EDITOR'S NOTE: "Verses Written when a detachment of Yeomen were sent against the rebel army" poem does not appear in Psyche, with Other Poems or Mary (or Collected Poems and Journals); the language inscribed on the shield in the illustration dates the poem and/or the event it describes to "Dublin July 13, 1798" and offers the Latin motto "I Secondo Omine": may all good go with you (from Horace's Odes 3.11.50-51). During the summer of 1798 Henry Tighe fought with the loyalist yeomen cavalry against the rebels in the Wicklow mountains. Tighe refers to herself via her coterie name "Linda" once again. BACK
