 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
THE MALISON.
I
The Curse of that land which in ban and in blessingHath puissance through prayer and through penance, alight
On the False One who whisper'd, the Traitor's hand pressing,
‘I ride without guards in the morning—good-night!’
O beautiful serpent! O woman fiend-hearted!
Wife false to O'Ruark! Queen base to thy trust!
The glory of ages for ever departed
That hour from the isle of the saintly and just.
10
II
The Curse of that land on the princes disloyal,Who welcomed the Invader, and knelt at his knee!
False Dermod, false Donald—the chieftains once royal
Of the Deasies and Ossory, cursed let them be!
Their name and their shame make eternal. Engrave them
On the cliffs which the great billows buffet and stain:
Like billows the nations, when tyrants enslave them,
Swell up in their vengeance—not always in vain!
III
But praise in the churches and worship and honourTo him who, betray'd and deserted, fought on!
All praise to King Roderick, the chief of Clan-Connor,
The King of all Erin, and Cathall his son!
May the million-voiced chant that in endless expansion
Rolls onward through heaven his praises prolong;
May the heaven of heavens this night be the mansion
Of the good king who died in the cloisters of Cong!
The story of the Irish Helen is well known. Dervorgil, the wife of O'Ruark, Prince of Breffny, fled with Dermod Mac Murrough, King of Leinster. The latter, on his deposition, went to England, where he contracted alliances with Henry II. and Strongbow against Roderick O'Connor, the last Gaelic king of all Ireland. Dervorgil ultimately found a refuge at Mellifont, where she lived in penance and works of charity. Dermod died at Ferns, under circumstances of strange horror. Exhausted by domestic discords, as well as the calamities of his country, Roderick retired to the monastery he had founded at Cong. He died there at the age of eighty-two, and was interred at Clonmacnoise, the burial-place of the Irish kings.
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |