 | 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition |  |
“ONLY ANOTHER MURDER.”
“On Sunday night, a desperate murder was perpetrated, at King
William's Town ------ County Cork. The victim is John Keefe
------ cause, disputes in reference to land ------ brother ------ nephew
------ arrested.”—Standard, 2nd May, 1882.
We wake, untouched by ill, and break our fast,
And on the papers careless glances cast—
What news to-day? We idly turn the page,
And nothing find our interest to engage
More than a passing moment.—Nothing?—Stay,
But is there really nothing new to-day?
And yet it is not new, the story told
Is not more dark and dolorous than old.
Just look again—the curse that never fails,
That bloody record in the Irish mails!
“On Sunday night” [the one day out of seven,
When man is nearest brought to God and Heaven]
“A desperate murder” [quite the devil's own]
“Was perpetrated at King William's Town.
The victim is John Keefe”—but listen!—“and
The cause disputes in reference to land.
His brother ------ nephew” [brothers sometimes fall
Out still] “have been arrested.”—That is all.
And is it nothing? Ask the widowed wife,
The children orphaned by this damnéd strife,
This hellish lust of land that nought may spare,
And call such murder nothing—if you dare.
But only Ireland—that's the usual way
In which they settle matters, do you say?
Only another murder, one more crime,
A human life cut short before its prime!
And on the papers careless glances cast—
What news to-day? We idly turn the page,
And nothing find our interest to engage
More than a passing moment.—Nothing?—Stay,
But is there really nothing new to-day?
And yet it is not new, the story told
Is not more dark and dolorous than old.
Just look again—the curse that never fails,
That bloody record in the Irish mails!
“On Sunday night” [the one day out of seven,
When man is nearest brought to God and Heaven]
“A desperate murder” [quite the devil's own]
“Was perpetrated at King William's Town.
497
The cause disputes in reference to land.
His brother ------ nephew” [brothers sometimes fall
Out still] “have been arrested.”—That is all.
And is it nothing? Ask the widowed wife,
The children orphaned by this damnéd strife,
This hellish lust of land that nought may spare,
And call such murder nothing—if you dare.
But only Ireland—that's the usual way
In which they settle matters, do you say?
Only another murder, one more crime,
A human life cut short before its prime!
Only another soul, above all price,
Thus offered up in dreadful sacrifice,
By those false statesmen who their dupes befool,
Unto the bloody Moloch of misrule!
Only another “woe”—only another,
And friend kills friend, and brother butchers brother!
Only another cry, that common sound,
Sent up for pity from the crimson ground!
Only another blot on that black page,
That goes to make the shameful Gladstone stage!
And though poor Ireland bleeds at every pore,
Yet London dances gaily as before;
The shuffling Premier with due relish dines,
While over that dead body he refines;
And as he pens each too well-known initial,
Declares he has “received no news official.”
Thus offered up in dreadful sacrifice,
By those false statesmen who their dupes befool,
Unto the bloody Moloch of misrule!
Only another “woe”—only another,
And friend kills friend, and brother butchers brother!
Only another cry, that common sound,
Sent up for pity from the crimson ground!
Only another blot on that black page,
That goes to make the shameful Gladstone stage!
And though poor Ireland bleeds at every pore,
Yet London dances gaily as before;
The shuffling Premier with due relish dines,
While over that dead body he refines;
And as he pens each too well-known initial,
Declares he has “received no news official.”
| 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition | |