Part 40 (2/2)
”So leave me here, my children, with my old ways and old notions; Leave me here in peace, with my memories and devotions; Leave me in sight of your father's grave, and as the heavens allied us, Let not, since we were joined in life, even the grave divide us.
”There's not a week but I can hear how you prosper better and better, For the mighty fire-s.h.i.+ps o'er the sea will bring the expected letter; And if I need aught for my simple wants, my food or my winter firing, You will gladly spare from your growing store a little for my requiring.
”Remember with a pitying love the hapless land that bore you; At every festal season be its gentle form before you; When the Christmas candle is lighted, and the holly and ivy glisten, Let your eye look back for a vanished face--for a voice that is silent, listen!
”So go, my children, go away--obey this inspiration; Go, with the mantling hopes of health and youthful expectation; Go, clear the forests, climb the hills, and plough the expectant prairies; Go, in the sacred name of G.o.d, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's.”
THE RAIN: A SONG OF PEACE.[119]
The Rain, the Rain, the beautiful Rain-- Welcome, welcome, it cometh again; It cometh with green to gladden the plain, And to wake the sweets in the winding lane.
The Rain, the Rain, the beautiful Rain, It fills the flowers to their tiniest vein, Till they rise from the sod whereon they had lain-- Ah, me! ah, me! like an army slain.
The Rain, the Rain, the beautiful Rain, Each drop is a link of a diamond chain That unites the earth with its sin and its stain To the radiant realm where G.o.d doth reign.
The Rain, the Rain, the beautiful Rain, Each drop is a tear not shed in vain, Which the angels weep for the golden grain All trodden to death on the gory plain;
For Rain, the Rain, the beautiful Rain, Will waken the golden seeds again!
But, ah! what power will revive the slain, Stark lying death over fair Lorraine?
'Twere better far, O beautiful Rain, That you swelled the torrent and flooded the main; And that Winter, with all his spectral train, Alone lay camped on the icy plain.
For then, O Rain, O beautiful Rain, The snow-flag of peace were unfurl'd again; And the truce would be rung in each loud refrain Of the blast replacing the bugle's strain.
Then welcome, welcome, beautiful Rain, Thou bringest flowers to the parched-up plain; Oh! for many a frenzied heart and brain, Bring peace and love to the world again!
August 28, 1870.
119. Written during the Franco-German war.
M. H. Gill & Sons, Printers, Dublin.
Transcriber's Notes.
Source. The collection of poems here presented follows as closely as possible the 1882 first edition. I a.s.sembled this e-text over several years, either typing or scanning one poem at a time as the spirit moved me. Some poems were transcribed either from the 1884 second edition, or from D. F. MacCarthy's earlier publications, depending on whatever happened to be handy at the time. I have proofread this entire e-text against the 1882 edition. In many instances there are minor variations, mostly in punctuation, among the different source material. In some cases, if the 1882 edition clearly has an error, I have used the other works as a guide. Where there are variations that are not obviously errors, I have followed the 1882 edition. It is certainly possible, where I transcribed from a non-1882 source, that a few variations may have slipt my notice, and have not been changed.
General. In the printed source the first word of each section and poem is in ”small capitals,” which I have removed as per Project Gutenberg standards. Elsewhere instances of small capitals are rendered as ALL CAPITALS. In the printed source the patronymic prefix ”Mac” is always followed by a half s.p.a.ce; due to limitations in this electronic format I have rendered names in ALL CAPITALS with a full s.p.a.ce (MAC CAURA) and names in Mixed Capitals without any s.p.a.ce (MacCaura) throughout. In this plain-text file, italics in the original publication have been either indicated with ”double quotes” or 'single quotes' if contextually appropriate; otherwise they have simply been dropt. Accents and other diacritical marks have also been dropt. However, where the original has an accent over the ”e” in a past participle for poetical reasons, I have marked an e-acute with an apostrophe (as in ”belov'ed”) and marked an e-grave with a grave accent (as in ”charm'ed”) to indicate the intended p.r.o.nunciation. For a fully formatted version, with italics, extended characters, et cetera, please refer to the HTML version of this collection of poetry, released by Project Gutenberg simultaneously with this plain text edition. The longest line in this plain-text file is 72 characters; this means that in some poems I had to wrap the ends of very long verses to the next line.
Footnotes. In the printed source footnotes are marked with an asterisk, dagger, et cetera and placed at the bottom of each page. In this electronic version I have numbered the footnotes and placed them below each section or poem.
Contents. I have removed the page numbers from the contents list. Text in brackets are my additions, giving alternate/earlier published t.i.tles for the poems.
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