Thomas Osborne Davis

Our Own Again

I.

Let the coward shrink aside,
    We'll have our own again;
Let the brawling slave deride--
    Here's for our own again!
Let the tyrant bribe and lie,
March, threaten, fortify,
Loose his lawyer and his spy--
    Yet we'll have our own again!
Let him soothe in silken tone,
Scold from a foreign throne:
Let him come with bugles blown--
    We shall have our own again!
Let us to our purpose bide,
    We'll have our own again!
Let the game be fairly tried,
    We'll have our own again!

II.

Send the cry throughout the land,
    "Who's for our own again?"
Summon all men to our band,--
    Why not our own again?
Rich and poor, and old and young,
Sharp sword, and fiery tongue,
Soul and sinew firmly strung--
    All to get our own again!
Brothers strive by brotherhood--
Trees in a stormy wood--
Riches come from Nationhood--
    Sha'n't we have our own again?
Munster's woe is Ulster's bane!
    Join for our own again--
Tyrants rob as well as reign--
    We'll have our own again!

III.

Oft our fathers' hearts it stirred,
    "Rise for our own again!"
Often passed the signal word,
    "Strike for our own again!"
Rudely, rashly, and untaught,
Uprose they, ere they ought,
Failing, though they nobly fought--
    Dying for their own again!
Mind will rule and muscle yield
In senate, ship, and field:
When we've skill our strength to wield,
    Let us take our own again!
By the slave his chain is wrought--
    Strive for our own again.
Thunder is less strong than thought--
    We'll have our own again!

IV.

Calm as granite to our foes,
    Stand for our own again;
Till his wrath to madness grows,
    Firm for our own again.
Bravely hope, and wisely wait,
Toil, join, and educate;
Man is master of his fate;
    We'll enjoy our own again!
With a keen constrained thirst--
Powder's calm ere it burst--
Making ready for the worst--
    So we'll get our own again.
Let us to our purpose bide,
    We'll have our own again!
God is on the righteous side,
    We'll have our own again!