Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AFTER DEATH, by FRANCES ISABEL PARNELL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AFTER DEATH, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Shall mine eyes behold the glory, o my country?
Last Line: "now mine eyes have seen her glory!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Parnell, Fanny
Variant Title(s): Ireland, Oh, My Country!;post Mortem
Subject(s): Ireland; Patriotism; Irish


SHALL mine eyes behold thy glory, O my country?
Shall mine eyes behold thy glory?
Or shall the darkness close around them, ere the
sun-blaze breaks at last upon thy story?
When the nations ope for thee their queenly cir-
cle, as a sweet new sister hail thee,

Shall these lips be sealed in callous death and
silence, that have known but to bewail thee?
Shall the ear be deaf that only loved thy praises,
when all men their tribute bring thee?
Shall the mouth be clay that sang thee in thy
squalor, when all poets' mouths shall sing
thee?

Ah, the harpings and the salvos and the shoutings
of thy exiled sons returning!
I should hear, though dead and mouldered, and
the grave-damps should not chill my bosom's
burning.

Ah, the tramp of feet victorious! I should hear
them 'mid the shamrocks and the mosses,
And my heart should toss within the shroud and
quiver as a captive dreamer tosses.

I should turn and rend the cere-clothes round me,
giant sinews I should borrow --
Crying, "O my brother, I have also loved her in
her loneliness and sorrow.

"Let me join with you the jubilant procession;
let me chant with you her story;
Then contented I shall go back to the shamrocks,
now mine eyes have seen her glory!"




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