WHERE IS' THE SLAVE? I. Who, could he burst His bonds at first, When thus its wing At once may spring II. Than that, whose braid Is pluck'd to shade The friends we've tried Are by our side, COME, REST IN THIS BOSOM. I. II. I know not, I ask not, if guilt's in that heart, III. 'TIS GONE, AND FOR EVER. I. Like Heaven's first dawn o'er the sleep of the dead When Man, from the slumber of ages awaking, Look'd upward, and bless'd the pure ray, ere it fled! II. Around thee, thro' all the gross clouds of the world; Atonce, like a sun-burst, her banner unfurld.* III. And shame on the light race, unworthy its good, The young hope of Freedom, baptized it in blood ! As first it arose, my lost ERIN, on thee. * « The Sun-burst" was the fanciful name given by the ancient Irish to the Royal Banner. I SAW FROM THE BEACH, AIR.-- Miss Molly. I. A bark o'er the waters move gloriously on; II. So passing the spring-tide of joy we have known ; Each wave, that we danc'd on at morning, ebbs from us, And leaves us, at eve, on the bleak shore alone. III. The close of our day, the calm eve of our night ;- IV. When passion first wak'd a new life thro' his frame, Gave out all its sweets to love's exquisite flame! FILL THE BUMPER FAIR. AIR.-Bob and Joan. 1. FILL the bumper fair ! Every drop we sprinkle Smooths away a wrinkle. Ne'er so swiftly passes, It shoots from brimming glasses. Every drop we sprinkle Smooths away a wrinkle. II. Sages can, they say, Grasp the lightning's pinions, And bring down its ray From the starr'd dominions :So we, Sages, sit, And, 'mid bumpers brightning, From the Heaven of Wit Draw down all its lightning! III. Wouldst thou know what first Made our souls inherit This ennobling thirst For wine's celestial spirit? It chanc'd upon that day, When, as bards inform us, PROMETHEUS stole away The living fires that warm us : IV. The careless Youth, when up To Glory's fount aspiring, Took nor urn nor cup, To hide the pilfer'd fire in. The halls of Heaven spying, V. Some drops were in that bowl, Remains of last night's pleasure With which the Sparks of Soul Mix'd their burning treasure. Hence the goblet's shower Hath such spells to win us— Hence its mighty power O'er that Flame within us. Fill the bumper fair! Every drop we sprinkle O'er the brow of Care Smooths away a wrinkle. DEAR HARP OF MY COUNTRY ! I, The cold chain of silence had hung o'er thee long, * When proudly, my own Island Harp, I unbound thee, And gave all thy chords to light, freedom, and song ! The warm lay of love and the light note of gladness Have waken’d thy fondest, thy liveliest thrill; II. This sweet wreath of song is the last we shall twine! Till touch'd by some hand less unworthy than mine. If the pulse of the patriot, soldier, or lover, Have throbb'd at our lay, 'tis thy glory alone ; I was but on the wind, passing heedlessly over, And all the wild sweetness I wak'd was thy own. * In that rebellious but beautiful Song, “When Erin first rose,” ;" there is, if I recollect right, the following line :“ The dark chain of Silence was thrown o'er the deep !” The Chain of Silence was a sort of practical figure of rhetoric among the ancient Irish. Walker tells us of a celebrated contention for precedence between Finn and Gaul, near Finn's palace at Almhaim, where the attending Bards, anxious, if possible, to produce a cessation of hostilities, shook the chain of Silence, and fung themselves among the ranks.” See also the Ode to Gaul, the Son of Morni, in Miss BROOKE's Reliques of Irish Poetry |