Thomas Moore, from Irish Melodies, vol. 8
Yes, sad one of Sion,* if closely resembling,
In shame and in sorrow, thy wither'd-up heart
If drinking deep, deep, of the same "cup of trembling"
Could make us thy children, our parent thou art.2. Like thee doth our nation lie conquer'd and broken,
And fall'n from her head is the once royal crown;
In her streets, in her halls, Desolation hath spoken,
And "while it is day yet, her sun hath gone down."**3. Like thine doth her exile, 'mid dreams of returning,
Die far from the home it were life to behold;
Like thine do her sons, in the day of their mourning
Remember the bright things that bless'd them of old.4. Ah, well may we call her, like thee, "the Forsaken,"***
Her boldest are vanquish'd, her proudest are slaves;
And the harps of her minstrels, when gayest they waken,
Have tones 'mid their mirth like the wind over graves!5. Yet hadst thou thy vengeance - yet came there the morrow,
That shines out, at last, on the longest dark night,
When the sceptre, that smote thee with slavery and sorrow,
Was shiver'd at once, like a reed, in thy sight.6. When that cup, which for others the proud Golden City+
Had brimm'd full of bitterness, drench'd her own lips;
And the world she had trampled on heard, without pity,
The howl in her halls, and the cry from her ships.7. When the curse Heaven keeps for the haughty came over,
Her merchants rapacious, her rulers unjust,
And a ruin at last for the earthworm to cover,++
The Lady of Kingdoms+++ lay low in the dust.
Notes from Irish Melodies:
* These verses were written after the perusal of a treatise by Mr. Hamilton, professing to prove that the Irish were originally Jews.
** "Her sun's gone down while it was yet day." - Jer. xv. 9.
*** "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken." - Isaiah, lxii. 4.
+ "How hath the opperssor ceased! the golden city ceased!" - Isaiah, xiv, 11.
++ "Thy pomp is brought down to the grave . . . and the worms cover thee." - Isaiah, xiv, 4.
+++ "Thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Kingdoms." - Isaiah, xlvii, 5.