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.