 | Ballads of Irish chivalry |  |
60
ROMANCE OF THE BANNER.
I
There was a banner old, in a tower by th'ocean bound,Its device a boat of gold, a lady, and a hound;
Then, gentles, sit around, and a tale I'll tell to ye,
All about the old green banner of that tower by Cleena's sea.
II
“Where away, oh! where away?” asked the hoary marinere,From a rock that towered so gray o'er the waters broad and clear—
“To seek my true love dear, doth he live, or is he dead!”
Cried young Marron, with her wolf-hound, as o'er the waves she sped.
61
III
Night, with her starry train, o'er the hound and fair ladye—Rose the shark from out the main, stealing slowly on their lee,
On them dark and wild looked he,—gazed the wolf-hound fierce on him,
While he plunged and glared and passed them in the ghostly midnight dim!
IV
Vanished the starlight pale, came rosy morn once more,As that boat so small and frail sped the purpling billows o'er,
A tall coast towered before, with great, blue hills behind,
And “Perchance”, cried Marron, weeping, “here my true love I may find!”
V
The sharp keel grates the sand;—ah! the sight before her there,Wrecks on wrecks along the strand, stark bones whitening in the air;
Down she sat in her despair. “Ah! my Turlogh brave”, said she,
“The storm came down upon him, and his bones lie in the sea!”
VI
And floating on the wave beside the sand below,The glittering plume she gave her love two moons ago!
62
As she sank, like death had struck her, on the wet sands swooning there!
VII
A youth with agile bound, of high and princely mien,Welcomed by Marron's hound,—no foe to her I ween,—
Has darted from the screen of an old, deserted fane,
And o'erjoyed young Marron wakens in her Turlogh's arms again!
VIII
Sank crew and galley trim when the wild tempest roared,And left alive but him, to Marron thus restored;
Nought saved he but his sword from thundering blast and brine,
And he says, “We'll seek green Desmond, and thou never more shalt pine!”
IX
On their course the night came down without one planet bright,Great clouds of dreary brown quenched all their trembling light.
Up to the lowering height the hound his gaze has thrown,
And a sudden yell breaks from him, and a low, sad, wailing moan!
63
X
Sudden the lightning's flash came darting out on high,And the mighty thunder's crash boomed o'er the boundless sky,
And with a vengeful cry the storm began to rave,
And lowered them in the hollows, and tossed them o'er the wave.
XI
“Oh! for the mighty rock where stands my castle gray”—Amid the tempest's shock, thus the young chief did say:—
“My heart feels no dismay, but all for love and thee,
So soon to sink and perish beneath the roaring sea!”
XII
Out in the rushing wind upon the greedy wave,His arm around her twined, wildly he sprang to save;
The boat whirled stave by stave on toward the disstant shore,
And the wolf-hound plunged and turned, then dashed right on before.
XIII
The golden morn had broke o'er sea and lovely land,When calmly they awoke—'twas on their native strand,
They made a banner grand, and on its gleaming fold
Was the hound and lovely lady, and the boat of ruddy gold.
| Ballads of Irish chivalry | |