University of Virginia Library


5

THE DEDICATION

To you, children of Patrick and Bride,
Scattered over the world so wide,
Where'er ye are remembering still
St Patrick and his holy hill,
And the white Virgin of Kildare,
This book I give where'er ye are.
We are all children of one father,
Who to the One Fold all did gather.
Therefore to exiled folk that roam
And to the happier ones at home,
To Patrick's children, little and great,
These rhymes of him I dedicate;
But chiefly to the little ones,
Dearest among his daughters and sons,
Whose voices called him to deliver
Them from the dark for ever and ever.
KATHARINE TYNAN