Poem by John Banim

* * *

Doubt me not!--You cannot doubt
Because for Freedom I cry out!
The cry which has been all to you,
You surely love from others, too,
And, Sister, most from me--
From me, engaged, at your own will,
To share your lot of good or ill,
The joy or grief, the shame or glory,
Of your fortunes and your story--
Sister! no! no!
For a lot so high and brave
You cannot choose a willing slave,
And Slave I will not be!

Doubt me not!--the slander scout
Which for my worship bids you doubt;
'Twas practised by your men of old,
Who Priest and Prince unflinching told
That they their land would free;
And if in mine a priest be found
To our good cause at heart unsound,
He too may know the place decreed him
In our plan of Equal Freedom--
Oh no! oh no!
By a Christian's hope and troth,
And by a true heart's scorn and wrath,
In this they slander me!

Doubt me not!--though still they say
That I would wile my chains away,
And summon back my strength and pride,
And then, unfaithful, leave your side--
Oh, trust them least in this!
'Twas Fate call'd up, from laboring earth,
Us, Island--Sister, at a birth,
Sisterhood between us dooming
While a wave is round us booming--
Sister, no! no!
Never thus my wishes stray,
And on his name a ban I pray,
Whose baleful dream it is!

1. Soggarth Aroon
2. Demand and Supply
3. The New Reformation
4. The Celt’s Paradise. Second Duan
5. The Irish Mother in the Penal Days

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