Poem by Thomas Moore

From “Irish Melodies”. 22. Let Erin Remember the Days of Old

LET Erin remember the days of old,
      Ere her faithless sons betray’d her;
When Malachi wore the collar of gold,
      Which he won from her proud invader,
When her kings, with standard of green unfurl’d,
      Led the Red-Branch Knights to danger!
Ere the emerald gem of the western world
      Was set in the crown of a stranger.

On Lough Neagh’s bank as the fisherman strays,
      When the clear cold eve’s declining,
He sees the round towers of other days
      In the wave beneath him shining:
Thus shall memory often, in dreams sublime,
      Catch a glimpse of the days that are over;
Thus, sighing, look through the waves of time,
      For the long-faded glories they cover.

1. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 65
2. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 25
3. From “Irish Melodies”. 115. Song of Innisfail
4. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 34
5. From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 74

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