Chaunt of The Cholera Songs for Ireland. By the Authors of "The O'Hara Tales," "The Smuggler," &c. [i.e. John Banim] |
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THE IRISH PEASANT TO HIS CHILD. |
 | Chaunt of The Cholera |  |
64
THE IRISH PEASANT TO HIS CHILD.
I
And where are you going, ma bouchelleen-bawn,From father and mother so early at dawn?
Och! rather run idle from evening till dawn,
Than darken their threshold, ma bouchelleen-bawn!
II
For there they would tell you, ma bouchelleen-bawn,That the mother whose milk to your heart you have drawn,
And the father who prays for you, evening and dawn,
Can never be heard for you, bouchelleen-bawn!
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III
That the faith we have bled for, from father to son,Since first by a lie our fair valleys were won,
And which oft in the desart, our knees to the sod,
We kept from them all, for our sons and our God—
IV
That this was idolatry, heartless and cold,And now grown more heartless because it is old;
And for something that's newer they'd ask you to pawn
The creed of your fathers, ma bouchelleen-bawn!
V
And now will you go to them, bouchelleen-bawn,From father and mother, so early at dawn?
Och! the cloud from your mind let it never be drawn,
But cross not their threshold, ma bouchelleen-bawn!
| Chaunt of The Cholera | |