‘Dark Rosaleen’ by James Clarence Mangan
For there was lightning in my blood,
My Dark Rosaleen!
My own Rosaleen!
Oh! there was lightning in my blood,
Red lightning lightened through my blood,
My Dark Rosaleen!
Poetry: Lay Your Weapons Down, Young Lady by Piaras Feiritéar
These weapons put behind you:
hide henceforth your curling hair;
do not bare that white breast
that spares no living man.
For Art, For Ireland: George William Russell’s Polemic Against Rudyard Kipling
In Ireland every poet we honour has dedicated his genius to his country without gain, and has given without stint, without any miserly withholding of his gift when his nation was in dark and evil days.