[ { "title": "The Ghost of Miltiades", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "The Ghost of Miltiades came at night,", "And he stood by the bed of the Benthamite,", "And he said, in a voice, that thrill'd the frame,", "\"If ever the sound of Marathon's name", "Hath fir'd they blood or flush'd thy brow,", "Lover of Liberty, rise thee now!\"", "", "", "The Benthamite, yawning, left his bed --", "Away to the Stock Exchange he sped,", "And he found the Scrip of Greece so high,", "That it fir'd his blood, it flush'd his eye,", "And oh, 'twas a sight to see,", "For never was Greek more Greek than he!", "And still as the premium higher went,", "His ecstas rose - so much per cent.,", "(As we see in a glass, that tells the weather,", "The heat and the silver rise together,)", "And Liberty sung from the patriot's lip,", "While a voice from pocket whisper'd \"Scrip!\"", "The Ghost of Miltiades came again; --", "He smil'd as the pale moon smiles through rain,", "For his soul was glad at the patriot strain;", "(And poor, dear ghost -- how little he knew", "The jobs and the tricks of the Philhellene crew!)", "\"Blessings and thanks!\" was all he said,", "Then, melting away, like a night-dream, fled!", "", "", "The Benthamite hears -- amaz'd that ghosts", "Could be such fools -- and away he posts,", "A patriot still? Ah no, ah no --", "Goddess of Freedom, thy scrip is low,", "And, warm and fond as they lovers are,", "Thou triest their passion, when under par.", "The Benthamite's ardour fast decays,", "By turns he weeps, and swears, and prays,", "And wishes the d--l had Crescent and Cross,", "Ere he had been forc'd to sell at a loss.", "They quote thim the Stock of various nations,", "But, spite of his classical associations,", "Lord how he loathes the Greek quotations!", "", "", "\"Who'll buy my Scrip! Who'll buy my Scrip?\"", "Is now the theme of the patriot's lip,", "And he runs to tell how hard his lot is", "To Messrs. Orlando and Luriottis,", "And says, \"Oh Greece, for Liberty's sake,", "Do buy my Scrip and I vow to break", "Those dark, unholy bonds of thine --", "If you'll only consent to buy up mine!\"", "The Ghost of Miltiades came once more; --", "His brow, like the night, was lowering o'er,", "And he said, with a look that flash'd dismay,", "\"Of Liberty's foes the worst are they", "Who turn to a trade her cause divine,", "And gamble for gold on Freedom's shrine!\"", "Thus saying, the Ghost, as he took his flight,", "Gave a Parthian kick to the Benthamite,", "Which sent him, whimpering, off to Jerry --", "And vanish'd away to the Stygian ferry!" ], "linecount": "56" }, { "title": "Oh! Think Not My Spirits Are Always As Light", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Oh! think not my spirits are always as light,", "And as free from a pang as they seem to you now,", "Nor expect that the heart-beaming smile of to-night", "Will return with to-morrow to brighten my brow.", "No: -- life is a waste of wearisome hours,", "Which seldom the rose of enjoyment adorns;", "And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers,", "Is always the first to be touch'd by the thorns.", "But send round the bowl, and be happy awhile --", "May we never meet worse, in our pilgrimage here,", "Than the tear that enjoyment may gild with a smile,", "And the smile that compassion can turn to a tear.", "", "The thread of our life would be dark, Heaven knows", "If it were not with friendship and love intertwined;", "And I care not how soon I may sink to repose,", "When these blessing shall cease to be dear to my mind.", "But they who have loved the fondest, the purest,", "Too often have wept o'er the dream they believed;", "And the heart that has slumber'd in friendship securest", "Is happy indeed if 'twas never deceived.", "But send round the bowl; while a relic of truth", "Is in man or in woman, this prayer shall be mine, --", "That the sunshine of love may illumine our youth,", "And the moonlight of friendship console our decline." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "This Life Is All Chequer'd With Pleasures and Woes", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "This life is all chequer'd with pleasures and woes,", "That chase one another like waves of the deep --", "Each brightly or darkly, as onward it flows,", "Reflecting our eyes, as they sparkle or weep.", "So closely our whims on our miseries tread,", "That the laugh is awaked ere the tear can be dried;", "And, as fast as the rain-drop of Pity is shed,", "The goose-plumage of Folly can turn it aside.", "But pledge me the cup -- if existence would cloy,", "With hearts ever happy and heads ever wise,", "Be ours the light Sorrow, half-sister to Joy,", "And the light brilliant Folly that flashes and dies.", "", "When Hylas was sent with his urn to the fount,", "Through fields full of light, and with heart full of play,", "Light rambled the boy, over meadow and mount,", "And neglected his task for the flowers on the way.", "Thus many, like me, who in youth should have tasted", "The fountain that runs by Philosophy's shrine,", "Their time with the flowers on the margin have wasted,", "And left their light urns all as empty as mine.", "But pledge me the goblet; -- while idleness weaves", "These flowerets together, should Wisdom but see", "One bright drop or two that has fall'n on the leaves", "From her fountain divine, 'tis sufficient for me." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Tis the Last Rose of Summer", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Tis the last rose of summer", "Left blooming alone;", "All her lovely companions", "Are faded and gone:", "No flower of her kindred,", "No rose-bud is nigh,", "To reflect back her blushes,", "Or give sigh for sigh.", "", "I'll not leave thee, thou lone one!", "To pine on the stem;", "Since the lovely are sleeping,", "Go, sleep thou with them.", "Thus kindly I scatter", "Thy leaves o'er the bed,", "Where thy mates of the garden", "Lie scentless and dead.", "", "So soon may I follow,", "When friendships decay,", "And from Love's shining circle", "The gems drop away.", "When true hearts lie wither'd,", "And fond ones are flown,", "Oh! who would inhabit", "This bleak world alone?" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "It Is Not the Tear At This Moment Shed", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "It is not the tear at this moment shed,", "When the cold turf has just been laid o'er him,", "That can tell how beloved was the friend that's fled,", "Or how deep in our hearts we deplore him.", "'Tis the tear, through many a long day wept,", "'Tis life's whole path o'ershaded;", "'Tis the one remembrance, fondly kept,", "When all lighter griefs have faded.", "", "Thus his memory, like some holy light,", "Kept alive in our hearts, will improve them,", "For worth shall look fairer, and truth more bright,", "When we think how he lived but to love them.", "And as fresher flowers the sod perfume", "Where buried saints are lying,", "So our hearts shall borrow a sweetening bloom", "From the image he left there in dying!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "War Song", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Remember the Glories of Brien the Brave", "", "", "Remember the glories of Brien the brave,", "Though the days of the hero are o'er,", "Though lost to Mononia and cold to the grave,", "He returns to Kinkora no more.", "That star of the field, which so often hath pour'd", "Its beam on the battle, is set;", "But enough of its glory remains on each sword,", "To light us to victory yet.", "", "Mononia! when Nature embellish'd the tint", "Of thy fields, and thy mountains so fair,", "Did she ever intend that a tyrant should print", "The footstep of slavery there?", "No! Freedom, whose smile we shall never resign,", "Go, tell our invaders, the Danes,", "That 'tis sweeter to bleed for an age at thy shrine,", "Than to sleep but a moment in chains.", "", "Forget not our wounded companions who stoood", "In the day of distress by our side;", "While the moss of the valley grew red with their blood,", "They stirr'd not, but conquer'd and died.", "That sun which now blesses our arms with his light,", "Saw them fall upon Ossory's plain; --", "Oh! let him not blush, when he leaves us to-night,", "To find that they fell there in vain." ], "linecount": "25" }, { "title": "While Gazing on the Moon's Light", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "While gazing on the moon's light,", "A moment from her smile I turn'd,", "To look at orbs that, more bright,", "In lone and distant glory burn'd.", "But too far", "Each proud star,", "For me to feel its warming flame;", "Much more dear", "That mild sphere,", "Which near our planet smiling came;", "Thus, Mary, be but thou my own,", "While brighter eyes unheeded play,", "I'll love those moonlight looks alone", "That bless my home and guide my way.", "", "The day had sunk in dim showers,", "But midnight now, with lustre meet,", "Illumined all the pale flowers,", "Like hope upon a mourner's cheek.", "I said (while", "The moon's smile", "Play'd o'er a stream, in dimpling bliss,)", "\"The moon looks", "On many brooks,", "The brook can see no moon but this;\"", "And thus, I thought, our fortunes run,", "For many a lover looks to thee,", "While oh! I feel there is but one,", "One Mary in the world for me." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "As a Beam O'er the Face of the Waters May Glow", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "As a beam o'er the face of the waters may glow", "While the tide runs in darkness and coldness below,", "So the cheek may be tinged with a warm sunny smile,", "Though the cold heart to ruin runs darkly the while.", "", "One fatal remembrance, one sorrow that throws", "Its bleak shade alike o'er our joys and our woes,", "To which life nothing darker or brighter can bring,", "For which joy has no balm and affliction no sting --", "", "Oh! this thought in the midst of enjoyment will stay,", "Like a dead, leafless branch in the summer's bright ray;", "The beams of the warm sun play round it in vain;", "It may smile in his light, but it blooms not again." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Ode to the Goddess Ceres", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Dear Goddess of Corn, whom the ancients we know,", "(Among other odd whims of those comical bodies,)", "Adorn'd with somniferous poppies, to show,", "Thou wert always a true Country-gentleman's Goddess.", "", "Behold in his best, shooting-jacket, before thee,", "An eloquent 'Squire, who most humbly beseeches,", "Great Queen of the Mark-lane (if the thing doesn't bore thee),", "Thou'lt read o'er the last of his -- never-last speeches.", "", "Ah! Ceres, thou know'st not the slander and scorn", "Now heap'd upon England's 'Squirearchy, so boasted;", "Improving on Hunt, 'tis no longer the Corn,", "'Tis the growers of Corn that are now, alas! roasted.", "", "In speeches, in books, in all shapes they attack us --", "Reviewers, economists - fellows, no doubt,", "That you, my dear Ceres, and Venus, and Bacchus,", "And Gods of high fashion know little about.", "", "There's B-nth-m, whose English is all his own making --", "Who thinks just as little of settling a nation", "As he would of smoking his pipe, or of taking", "(What he, himself, calls) his \"post-prandial vibration.\"", "", "There are two Mr. M---lls, too, whom those that love reading", "Through all that's unreadable, call very clever; --", "And whreas M---ll Senior makes war on good breeding,", "M---ll Junio makes war on all breeding whatever!", "", "In short, my dear Goddess, Old England's divided", "Between ultra blockheads and superfine sages; --", "With which of these classes we, landlords, have sided", "Thou'lt find in my Speech, if thou'lt read a few pages.", "", "For therein I've prov'd, to my own satisfaction,", "And that of all 'Squires I've the honour of meeting,", "That 'tis the most senseless and foul-mouth'd detraction", "To say that poor people are fond of cheap eating.", "", "On the contrary, such the \"chaste notions\" of food", "that dwell in each pale manufacturer's heart,", "They would scorn any law, be it every so good,", "That would make thee, dear Goddess, less dear than thou art!", "", "And, oh! for Monopoly what a blest day,", "When the Land and the Silk shall, in fond combination,", "(Like Sulky and Silky, that pair in the play)", "Cry out, with one voice, High Rents and Starvation!", "", "Long life to the Minister! -- no matter who,", "Or how dull he may be, if, with dignified spirit, he", "Keeps the ports shut -- and the people's mouth too, --", "We shall all have a long run of Freddy's prosperity.", "", "And, as for myself, who've like Hannibal, sworn", "To hate the whole crew who would take our rents from us,", "Had England but One to stand by thee, Dear Corn,", "That last, honest Uni-Corn would be Sir Th-m-s!" ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "On Music", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "When through life unblest we rove,", "Losing all that made life dear,", "Should some notes we used to love,", "In days of boyhood, meet our ear,", "Oh! how welcome breathes the strain!", "Wakening thoughts that long have slept,", "Kindling former smiles again", "In faded eyes that long have wept.", "", "Like the gale, that sighs along", "Beds of oriental flowers,", "Is the grateful breath of song,", "That once was heard in happier hours.", "Fill'd with balm the gale sighs on,", "Though the flowers have sunk in death;", "So, when pleasure's dream is gone,", "Its memory lives in Music's breath.", "", "Music, oh, how faint, how weak,", "Language fades before thy spell!", "Why should Feeling ever speak,", "When thou canst breathe her soul so well?", "Friendship's balmy words may feign,", "Love's are even more false than they;", "Oh! 'tis only music's strain", "Can sweetly soothe, and not betray." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "The Song of O'Ruark, Prince of Breffni", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "The valley lay smiling before me,", "Where lately I left her behind;", "Yet I trembled, and something hung o'er me,", "That sadden'd the joy of my mind.", "I look'd for the lamp which, she told me,", "Should shine when her Pilgrim return'd;", "But, though darkness began to infold me,", "No lamp from the battlements burn'd!", "", "I flew to her chamber -- 'twas lonely,", "As if the loved tenant lay dead; --", "Ah, would it were death, and death only!", "But no, the young false one had fled.", "And there hung the lute that could soften", "My very worst pains into bliss;", "While the hand that had waked it so often", "Now throbb'd to a proud rival's kiss.", "", "There was a time, falsest of women,", "When Breffni's good sword would have sought", "That man, through a million of foemen,", "Who dared but to wrong thee in thought!", "While now -- oh degenerate daughter", "Of Erin, how fallen is thy fame!", "And through ages of bondage and slaughter,", "Our country shall bleed for thy shame.", "", "Already the curse is upon her,", "And strangers her valleys profane;", "They come to divide, to dishonour,", "And tyrants they long will remain.", "But onward! --- the green banner rearing,", "Go, flesh every sword to the hilt;", "On our side is Virtue and Erin,", "On theirs is the Saxon and Guilt." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "They May Rail at this Life", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "They may rail at this life -- from the hour I began it", "I found it a life full of kindness and bliss;", "And, until they can show me some happier planet,", "More social and bright, I'll content me with this.", "As long as the world has such lips and such eyes", "As before me this moment enraptured I see,", "They may say what they will of their orbs in the skies,", "But this earth is the planet for you, love, and me.", "", "In Mercury's star, where each moment can bring them", "New sunshine and wit from the fountain on high,", "Though the nymphs may have livelier poets to sing them,", "They've none, even there, more enamour'd than I.", "And, as long as this harp can be waken'd to love,", "And that eye its divine inspiration shall be,", "They may talk as they will of their Edens above,", "But this earth is the planet for you, love, and me.", "", "In that star of the west, by whose shadowy splendour,", "At twilight so often we've roam'd through the dew,", "There are maidens, perhaps, who have bosoms as tender,", "And look, in their twilights, as lovely as you.", "But though they were even more bright than the queen", "Of that Isle they inhabit in heaven's blue sea,", "As I never those fair young celestials have seen,", "Why -- this earth is the planet for you, love, and me.", "", "As for those chilly orbs on the verge of creation,", "Where sunshine and smiles must be equally rare,", "Did they want a supply of cold hearts for that station,", "Heaven knows we have plenty on earth we could spare,", "Oh! think what a world we should have of it here,", "If the haters of peace, of affection and glee,", "Were to fly up to Saturn's comfortless sphere,", "And leave earth to such spirits as you, love, and me." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Love's Young Dream", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Oh! the days are gone, when Beauty bright", "My heart's chain wove;", "When my dream of life, from morn till night,", "Was love, still love.", "New hope may bloom,", "And days may come,", "Of milder calmer beam,", "But there's nothing half so sweet in life", "As love's young dream:", "No, there's nothing half so sweet in life", "As love's young dream.", "", "Though the bard to purer fame may soar,", "When wild youth's past;", "Though he win the wise, who frown'd before,", "To smile at last;", "He'll never meet", "A joy so sweet,", "In all his noon of fame,", "As when first he sung to woman's ear", "His soul-felt flame,", "And, at every close, she blush'd to hear", "The one loved name.", "", "No, -- that hallow'd form is ne'er forgot", "Which first love traced;", "Still it lingering haunts the greenest spot", "On memory's waste.", "'Twas odour fled", "As soon as shed;", "'Twas morning's winged dream;", "'Twas a light, tht ne'er can shine again", "On life's dull stream:", "Oh! 'twas light that n'er can shine again", "On life's dull stream." ], "linecount": "33" }, { "title": "All In a Family Way", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "My banks are all furnished with rags,", "So thick, even Freddy can't thin 'em;", "I've torn up my old money-bags,", "Having little or nought to put in 'em.", "My tradesman are smashing by dozens,", "But this is all nothing, they say;", "For bankrupts, since Adam, are cousins,", "So, it's all in the family way.", "", "", "My Debt not a penny takes from me,", "As sages the matter explain; --", "Bob owes it to Tom and then Tommy", "Just owes it to Bob back again.", "Since all have thus taken to owing,", "There's nobody left that can pay;", "And this is the way to keep going, --", "All quite in the family way.", "", "", "My senators vote away millions,", "To put in Prosperity's budget;", "And though it were billions or trillions,", "The generous rogues wouldn't grudge it.", "'Tis all but a family hop,", "'Twas Pitt began dancing the hay;", "Hands round! -- why the deuce should we stop?", "'Tis all in the family way.", "", "", "My labourers used to eat mutton,", "As any great man of the State does;", "And now the poor devils are put on", "Small rations of tea and potatoes.", "But cheer up John, Sawney and Paddy,", "The King is your father, they say;", "So ev'n if you starve for your Daddy,", "'Tis all in the family way.", "", "", "My rich manufacturers tumble,", "My poor ones have nothing to chew;", "And, even if themselves do not grumble,", "Their stomachs undoubtedly do.", "But coolly to fast en famille,", "Is as good for the soul as to pray;", "And famine itself is genteel,", "When one starves in a family way.", "", "", "I have found out a secret for Freddy,", "A secret for next Budget day;", "Though, perhaps he may know it already,", "As he, too, 's a sage in his way.", "When next for the Treasury scene he", "Announces \"the Devil to pay\",", "Let him write on the bills, \"Nota bene,", "'Tis all in the family way.\"" ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "Sing -- Sing -- Music Was Given", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Sing -- sing -- Music was given", "To brighten the gay, and kindle the loving;", "Souls here, like planets in heaven,", "By harmony's laws alone are kept moving.", "Beauty may boast of her eyes and her cheeks,", "But Love from the lips his true archery wings;", "And she, who but feathers the dart when she speaks,", "At once sends it home to the heart when she sings.", "Then sing -- sing -- Music was given,", "To brighten the gay, and kindle the loving;", "Souls here, like planets in heaven,", "By harmony's laws alone are kept moving.", "", "When Love, rock'd by his mother,", "Lay sleeping as calm as slumber could make him,", "\"Hush, hush,\" said Venus, \"no other", "Sweet voice but his own is worthy to wake him.\"", "Dreaming of music he slumber'd the while,", "Till faint from his lip a soft melody broke,", "And Venus, enchanted, look'd on with a smile,", "While Love to his own sweet singing awoke.", "Then sing -- sing -- Music was given,", "To brighten the gay, and kindle the loving;", "Souls here, like planets in heaven,", "By harmony's laws alone are kept moving." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "What the Bee Is To the Floweret", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "What the bee is to the floweret,", "When he looks for honey-dew,", "Through the leaves that close embower it,", "That, my love, I'll be to you.", "", "She. --", "", "What the bank, with verdure glowing,", "Is to waves that wander near,", "Whispering kisses, while they're going,", "That I'll be to you, my dear.", "", "She. --", "", "But they say, the bee's a rover,", "Who will fly, when sweets are gone,", "And, when once the kiss is over,", "Faithless brooks will wander on.", "", "He. --", "", "Nay, if flowers will lose their looks", "If sunny banks will wear away,", "'Tis but right that bees and brooks", "Should sip and kiss them, while they may." ], "linecount": "19" }, { "title": "Has Sorrow Thy Young Days Shaded", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Has sorrow thy young days shaded,", "As clouds o'er the morning fleet?", "Too fast have those young days faded", "That, even in sorrow, were sweet?", "Does Time with his cold wing wither", "Each feeling that once was dear? --", "Then, child of misfortune, come hither,", "I'll weep with thee, tear for tear.", "", "Has love to that soul, so tender,", "Been like our Lagenian mine,", "Where sparkles of golden splendour", "All over the surface shine --", "But, if in pursuit we go deeper,", "Allured by the gleam that shone,", "Ah! false as the dream of the sleeper,", "Like Love, the bright ore is gone.", "", "Has Hope, like the bird in the story,", "That flitted from tree to tree", "With the talisman's glittering glory --", "Has Hope been that bird to thee?", "On branch after branch alighting,", "The gem did she still display,", "And, when nearest, and most inviting,", "Then waft the fair gem away?", "", "If thus the young hours have fleeted,", "When sorrow itself look'd bright;", "If thus the fair hope hath cheated,", "That led thee along so light;", "If thus the cold world now wither", "Each feeling that once was dear --", "Come, child of misfortune, come hither,", "I'll weep with thee, tear for tear." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Song of the Battle Eve", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "(Time -- the Ninth Century)", "", "", "To-morrow, comrade, we", "On the battle-plain must be,", "There to conquer, or both lie low!", "The morning star is up --", "But there's wine still in the cup,", "And we'll take another quaff, ere we go, boy, go;", "We'll take another quaff, ere we go.", "", "'Tis true, in manliest eyes", "A passing tear will rise,", "When we think of the friends we leave lone;", "But what can wailing do?", "See, our goblet's weeping too!", "With its tears we'll chase away our own, boy, our own;", "With its tears we'll chase away our own.", "", "But daylight's stealing on;", "The last that o'er us shone", "Saw our children around us play;", "The next -- ah! where shall we", "And those rosy urchins be?", "But -- no matter -- grasp thy sword and away, boy, away;", "No matter -- grasp thy sword and away!", "", "Let those, who brook the chain", "Of Saxon or of Dane,", "Ignobly by their fire-sides stay;", "One sigh to home be given,", "One heartfelt prayer to heaven,", "Then, for Erin and her cause, boy, hurra! hurra! hurra!", "Then, for Erin and her cause, hurra!" ], "linecount": "29" }, { "title": "In the Morning of Life", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "In the morning of life, when its cares are unknown,", "And its pleasures in all their new lustre begin,", "When we live in a bright-beaming world of our own,", "And the light that surrounds us is all from within;", "Oh 'tis not, believe me, in that happy time", "We can love, as in hours of less transport we may; --", "Of our smiles, of our hopes, 'tis the gay sunny prime,", "But affection is truest when these fade away.", "", "When we see the first glory of youth pass us by,", "Like a leaf on the stream that will never return,", "When our cup, which had sparkled with pleasure so high,", "First tastes of the other, the dark-flowing urn;", "Then, then in the time when affection holds sway", "With a depth and a tenderness joy never knew;", "Love, nursed among pleasures, is faithless as they,", "But the love born of Sorrow, like Sorrow, is true.", "", "In climes full of sunshine, though splendid the flowers,", "Their sighs have no freshness, their odour no worth;", "'Tis the cloud and the mist of our own Isle of showers", "That call the rich spirit of fragrancy forth.", "So it is not 'mid splendour, prosperity, mirth,", "That the depth of Love's generous spirit appears;", "To the sunshine of smiles it may first owe its birth,", "But the soul of its sweetness is drawn out by tears." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "The Young May Moon", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "The young May moon is beaming, love.", "The glow-worm's lamp is gleaming, love.", "How sweet to rove,", "Through Morna's grove,", "When the drowsy world is dreaming, love!", "Then awake! -- the heavens look bright, my dear,", "'Tis never too late for delight, my dear,", "And the best of all ways", "To lengthen our days", "Is to steal a few hours from the night, my dear!", "", "Now all the world is sleeping, love,", "But the Sage, his star-watch keeping, love,", "And I, whose star,", "More glorious far,", "Is the eye from that casement peeping, love.", "Then awake! -- till rise of sun, my dear,", "The Sage's glass we'll shun, my dear,", "Or, in watching the flight", "Of bodies of light,", "He might happen to take thee for one, my dear." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "The Meeting of the Waters", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet", "As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet;", "Oh! the last rays of feeling and life must depart,", "Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart.", "", "Yet it was not that nature had shed o'er the scene", "Her purest of crystal and brightest of green;", "'Twas not her soft magic of streamlet or hill,", "Oh! no, -- it was something more exquisite still.", "", "'Twas that friends, the beloved of my bosom, were near,", "Who made every dear scene of enchantment more dear,", "And who felt how the best charms of nature improve,", "When we see them reflected from looks that we love.", "", "Sweet vale of Avoca! how calm could I rest", "In thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best,", "Where the storms that we feel in this cold world should cease,", "And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Oh! Breathe Not His Name", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Oh! breathe not his name, let it sleep in the shade,", "Where cold and unhonour'd his relics are laid:", "Sad, silent, and dark, be the tears that we shed,", "As the night-dew that falls on the grass o'er his head.", "", "But the night-dew that falls, though in silence it weeps,", "Shall brighten with verdure the grave where he sleeps;", "And the tear that we shed, though in secret it rolls,", "Shall long keep his memory green in our souls." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "I Saw From the Beach", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "I saw from the beach, when the morning was shining,", "A bark o'er the waters move gloriously on;", "I came when the sun o'er that beach was declining,", "The bark was still there, but the waters were gone.", "", "And such is the fate of our life's early promise,", "So passing the spring-tide of joy we have known;", "Each wave that we danced on at morning ebbs from us,", "And leaves us, at eve, on the bleak shore alone.", "", "Oh, who would not welcome that moment's returning", "When passion first waked a new life through his frame,", "And his soul, like the wood that grows precious in burning,", "Gave out all its sweets to love's exquisite flame." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Though the Last Glimpse of Erin With Sorrow I See", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Though the last glimpse of Erin with sorrow I see,", "Yet wherever thou art shall seem Erin to me;", "In exile thy bosom shall still be my home,", "And thine eyes make my climate wherever we roam.", "", "To the gloom of some desert or cold rocky shore,", "Where the eye of the stranger can haunt us no more,", "I will fly with my Coulin, and think the rough wind", "Less rude than the foes we leave frowning behind.", "", "And I'll gaze on thy gold hair as graceful it wreathes,", "And hang o'er thy soft harp, as wildly it breathes;", "Nor dread that the cold-hearted Saxon will tear", "One chord from that harp, or one lock from that hair." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "The Song of Fionnuala", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Silent, oh Moyle, be the roar of thy water,", "Break not, ye breezes, your chain of repose,", "While, murmuring mournfully, Lir's lonely daughter", "Tell's to the night-star her tale of woes.", "When shall the swan, her death-note singing,", "Sleep, with wings in darkness furl'd?", "When will heaven, its sweet bell ringing,", "Call my spirit from this stormy world?", "", "Sadly, oh Moyle, to thy winter-wave weeping,", "Fate bids me languish long ages away;", "Yet still in her darkness doth Erin lie sleeping,", "Still doth the pure light its dawning delay.", "When will that day-star, mildly springing,", "Warm our isle with peace and love?", "When will heaven, its sweet bell ringing,", "Call my spirit to the fields above?" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "The Time I've Lost In Wooing", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "The time I've lost in wooing,", "In watching and pursuing", "The light that lies", "In woman's eyes,", "Has been my heart's undoing.", "Tho' Wisdom oft has sought me,", "I scorn'd the lore she brought me,", "My only books", "Were women's looks,", "And folly's all they taught me.", "", "Her smile when Beauty granted,", "I hung with gaze enchanted,", "Like him the Sprite", "Whom maids by night", "Oft meet in glen that's haunted.", "Like him, too, Beauty won me;", "But when the spell was on me,", "If once their ray", "Was turn'd away,", "O! winds could not outrun me.", "", "And are those follies going?", "And is my proud heart growing", "Too cold or wise", "For brillant eyes", "Again to set it glowing?", "No -- vain, alas! th' endeavour", "From bonds so sweet to sever: --", "Poor Wisdom's chance", "Against a glance", "Is now as weak as ever." ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "The Night Dance", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Strike the gay harp! see the moon is on high,", "And, as true to her beam as the tides of the ocean,", "Young hearts, when they feel the soft light of her eye,", "Obey the mute call, and heave into motion.", "Then, sound notes -- the gayest, the lightest,", "That ever took wing, when heaven look'd brightest", "Again! Again!", "Oh! could such heart-stirring music be heard", "In that City of Statues described by romancers,", "So wakening its spell, even stone would be stirr'd,", "And statues themselves all start into dancers!", "", "Why then delay, with such sounds in our ears,", "And the flower of Beauty's own garden before us --", "While stars overhead leave the song of their spheres,", "And, listening to ours, hang wondering o'er us?", "Again, that strain! -- to hear it thus sounding", "Might set even Death's cold pulses bounding --", "Again! Again!", "Oh, what delight when the youthful and gay", "Each with eye like a sunbeam and foot like a feather,", "Thus dance, like the Hours to the music of May,", "And mingle sweet song and sunshine together." ], "linecount": "22" }, { "title": "I'd Mourn the Hopes", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "I'd mourn the hopes that leave me,", "If thy smiles had left me too;", "I'd weep when friends deceive me,", "If thou wert, like them, untrue.", "But while I've thee before me,", "With heart so warm and eyes so bright,", "No clouds can linger o'er me,", "That smile turns them all to light.", "", "'Tis not in fate to harm me,", "While fate leaves thy love to me:", "'Tis not in joy to charm me,", "Unless joy be shared with thee.", "One minute's dream about thee", "Were worth a long, an endless year", "Of waking bliss without thee,", "My own love, my only dear!", "", "And though the hope be gone, love,", "That long sparkled o'er our way,", "Oh! we shall journey on, love,", "More safely, without its ray.", "Far better lights shall win me,", "Along the path I've yet to roam --", "The mind that burns within me,", "And pure smiles from thee at home.", "", "Thus, when the lamp that lighted", "The traveller at first goes out,", "He feels awhile benighted,", "And looks round in fear and doubt.", "But soon, the prospect clearing,", "By cloudless starlight on he treads,", "And thinks no lamp so cheering", "As the light which Heaven sheds." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Translation From the Gull Language", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "'Twas grav'd on the Stone of Destiny,", "In letters four, and letters three;", "And ne'er did the King of the Gulls go by", "But those awful letters scar'd his eye;", "For he knew that a Prophet Voice had said", "\"As long as those words by man were read,", "The ancient race of the Gulls should ne'er", "One hour of peace or plenty share.\"", "But years and years successive flew", "And the letters still more legible grew, --", "At top, a T, an H, an E,", "And underneath, D. E. B. T.", "", "", "Some thought them Hebrew, -- such as Jews,", "More skill'd in Scrip than Scripture use;", "While some surmis'd 'twas an ancient way", "Of keeping accounts, (well known in the day", "Of the fam'd Didlerius Jeremias,", "Who had thereto a wonderful bias,)", "And prov'd in books most learnedly boring,", "'Twas called the Pontick way of scoring.", "Howe'er this be, there never were yet", "Seven letters of the alphabet,", "That, 'twixt them form'd so grim a spell,", "Or scar'd a Land of Gulls so well,", "As did this awful riddle-me-ree", "Of T.H.E.D.E.B.T.", "", "", "Hark! - it is struggling Freedom's cry;", "\"Help, help, ye nations, or I die;", "'Tis freedom's fight, and on the field", "Where I expire, your doom is seal'd.\"", "The Gull-King hears the awakening call,", "He hath summon'd his Peers and Patriots all,", "And he asks, \"Ye noble Gulls, shall we", "Stand basely by at the fall of the Free,", "Nor utter a curse, nor deal a blow?\"", "And they answer, with voice of thunder, \"No.\"", "", "", "Out fly their flashing swords in the air! -", "But, -- why do they rest suspended there?", "What sudden blight, what baleful charm,", "Hath chill'd each eye and check'd each arm?", "Alas! some withering hand hath thrown", "The veil from off that fatal stone,", "And pointing now, with sapless finger,", "Showeth where dark those letters linger, --", "Letters four, and letters three,", "T.H.E. D.E.B.T.", "", "", "At sight thereof, each lifted brand", "Powerless falls from every hand;", "In vain the Patriot knits his brow, --", "Even talk, his staple, fails him now.", "In vain the King like a hero treads,", "His Lords of the Treasury shake their heads;", "And to all his talk of \"brave and free\",", "No answer getteth His Majesty", "But \"T.H.E. D.E.B.T.\"", "", "", "In short, the whole Gull nation feels", "The're fairly spell-bound, neck and heels;", "And so, in the face of the laughing world,", "Must e'en sit down, with banners furled,", "Adjourning all their dreams sublime", "Of glory and war to -- some other time." ], "linecount": "61" }, { "title": "While History's Muse", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "While History's Muse the memorial was keeping", "Of all that the dark hand of Destiny weaves,", "Beside her the Genius of Erin stood weeping,", "For hers was the story that blotted the leaves.", "But oh! how the tear in her eyelids grew bright,", "When, after whole pages of sorrow and shame,", "She saw History write,", "With a pencil of light", "That illumed the whole volume, her Wellington's name.", "", "\"Yet still the last crown of thy toils is remaining,", "The grandest, the purest, even thou hast yet known;", "Though proud was thy task, other nations unchaining,", "Far prouder to heal the deep wounds of thy own.", "At the foot of that throne, for whose weal thou hast stood,", "Go, plead for the land that first cradled thy fame,", "And, bright o'er the flood", "Of her tears, and her blood,", "Let the rainbow of Hope be her Wellington's name.\"" ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Farewell! -- But Whenever You Welcome the Hour", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Farewell! but whenever you welcome the hour", "That awakens the night-song of mirth in your bower,", "Then think of the friend who once welcomed it too,", "And forgot his own griefs to be happy with you.", "His griefs may return, not a hope may remain", "Of the few that have brighten'd his pathway of pain,", "But he ne'er will forget the short vision, that threw", "Its enchantment around him, while lingering with you.", "", "And still on that evening, when pleasure fills up", "To the highest top sparkle each heart and each cup,", "Where'er my path lies, be it gloomy or bright,", "My soul, happy friends, shall be with you that night;", "Shall join in your revels, your sports, and your wiles,", "And return to me, beaming all o'er with your smiles --", "Too blest, if it tells me that, 'mid the gay cheer,", "Some kind voice has murmur'd, \"I wish he were here!\"", "", "Let Fate do her worst, there are relics of joy,", "Bright dreams of the past, which she cannot destroy;", "Which come in the night-time of sorrow and care,", "And bring back the features that joy used to wear.", "Long, long be my heart with such memories fill'd!", "Like the vase, in which roses have once been distill'd --", "You may break, you may shatter the vase, if you will,", "But the scent of the roses will hang round it still." ], "linecount": "24" } ]