Dedication of a Book of Irish Verses by various hands[2]
Because you suffered for the Cause;
Because you strove with voice and pen
To serve a Law above all laws
That purifies the hearts of men;
Because you failed, and grew not slack,
Not sullen, not disconsolate,
Nor stooped to seek a lower track,
But showed your soul a match for Fate;
Because you hated all things base,
And held your country’s honour high;
Because you wrought in Time and Space
Not heedless of Eternity;
Because you loved the nobler part
Of Erinn,—so we bring you here
Words such as once the Irish heart
On Irish lips rejoiced to hear:
Strains that have little chance to live
With those that Davis’ clarion blew,
But all the best we have to give
To Mother Erinn and to you.
[2] “Poems and Ballads of Young Ireland, 1888.”