Poems MacCarthy, Florence Denis

112
The stranger's home, the hospitable hearth,
The shrine to which shall wander pilgrim feet
From all the neighbouring nations of the earth.
"But in the end upon that land shall fall
A bitter scourge, a lasting flood of tears,
When ruthless tyranny shall level all
The pious trophies of its early years:
Then shall this land prove thy poor country's friend,
And shine a second Eden in the west;
Then shall this shore its friendly arms extend,
And clasp the outcast exile to its breast."
He ceased and vanished from our dazzled sight,
While harps and sacred hymns rang sweetly o'er
For us again we winged our homeward flight
O'er the great ocean to our native shore;
And as a proof of God's protecting hand,
And of the wondrous tidings that we bear,
The fragrant perfume of that heavenly land
Clings to the very garments that we wear.[76]
53. So called from the number of holy men and women formerly inhabiting
it.
54. The Atlantic was so named by the ancient Irish.
55. Ardfert.
56. The puffin (Anas leucopsis), called in Irish 'girrinna.' It was
the popular belief that these birds grew out of driftwood.
57. St. Fanchea.
58. Galway Bay.
59. These stanzas are a paraphrase of the hymn "Ave Maris Stella."
60. An angel was said to have presented her with three precious stones,
which, he explained, were emblematic of the Blessed Trinity, by whom she