Poem by Aubrey Thomas De Vere

The Three Woes

THAT angel whose charge is Eire sang thus, o’er the dark isle winging;
  By a virgin his song was heard at a tempest’s ruinous close:
“Three golden ages God gave while your tender green blade was springing;
  Faith’s earliest harvest is reaped. To-day God sends you three Woes.

“For ages three without laws ye shall flee as beasts in the forest;
  For an age and a half-age faith shall bring not peace, but a sword;
Then laws shall rend you, like eagles sharp-fanged, of your scourges the sorest:
  When these three woes are past, look up, for your hope is restored.

“The times of your woe shall be twice the time of your foregone glory;
  But fourfold at last shall lie the grain on your granary floor.”
The seas in vapor shall fleet, and in ashes the mountains hoary:
  Let God do that which he wills. Let his servants endure and adore!

1. Kinsale
2. Composed at Rydal, September, 1860
3. Early Friendship
4. The Dirge of Athunree
5. At the Tomb of King Arthur

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