Ballads of Irish chivalry By Robert Dwyer Joyce: Edited, with Annotations, by his brother P. W. Joyce |
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THE COCK AND THE SPARROW. |
 | Ballads of Irish chivalry |  |
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THE COCK AND THE SPARROW.
I
One morn, at the sack of Cragnour,A cock and a sparrow were speaking,
While beneath where they sat on the tower
The Crop-ears their fury were wreaking—
Were wreaking in blood, fire, and smoke—
“Ah! the castle is gone, bone and marrow,
And my poor Irish heart it is broke,”
Said the brave jolly cock to the sparrow.
II
“For the Crop-ears will have us full soon,And our bed will be no bed of roses;
They will starve us right dead to the tune
Of a psalm that they'll twang through their noses;
Never more shall I crow in the hall,
For the gloom there my bosom would harrow—
May the fiend whip them off, psalms and all,”
Said the brave jolly cock to the sparrow.
III
“No more,” said the sparrow, “we'll seeIrish gallants come in late and early;
No more shall they hunt o'er the lea,
When the sweet autumn wind shakes the barley;
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Or ride from the gate like an arrow!”
“Ah! no more shall I wake them at dawn,”
Said the brave jolly cock to the sparrow.
IV
But the chief of Cragnour soon returned,And the Crop-ears right sorely he hammered;
Then the sparrow with gleefulness burned,
And “Hurra for my Irish!” he clamoured;—
And “Hurra for the chief of Cragnour!
There is joy through my flesh, bone, and marrow;
For his victory I'll crow hour by hour,”
Said the brave jolly cock to the sparrow.
| Ballads of Irish chivalry | |