When by the sunshine of fortune forsaken
Faint sinks the heart of the feeble with fear,
Stand like the oak of the forest--unshaken,
Never despair--Boys--oh! never despair.
Never despair! Though adversity rages,
Fiercely and fell as the surge on the shore,
Firm as the rock of the ocean for ages,
Stem the rude torrent till danger is o'er.
Fate with its whirlwind our joys may all sever,
True to ourselves, we have nothing to fear.
Be this our hope and our anchor for ever--
Never despair--Boys--oh! never despair.
WILLIAM SMITH O'BRIEN.
[6] These lines were sent to me by William Smith O'Brien, the evening of
Monday, October 8, 1848, the day on which sentence of death was passed
upon him.
THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER. October 12, 1848.
THE SADDEST FATE.
To touch a broken lute,
To strike a jangled string,
To strive with tones forever mute
The dear old tunes to sing--
What sadder fate could any heart befall?
_Alas! dear child, never to sing at all_.
To sigh for pleasures flown.
To weep for withered flowers,
To count the blessings we have known,
Lost with the vanished hours--
What sadder fate could any heart befall?
_Alas! dear child, ne'er to have known them all_.
To dream of love and rest,
To know the dream has past,
To bear within an aching breast
Only a void at last--
What sadder fate could any heart befall?
_Alas! dear child, ne'er to have loved at all_.
To trust an unknown good,
To hope, but all in vain,
Over a far-off bliss to brood,
Only to find it pain--
What sadder fate could any soul befall?
_Alas! dear child, never to hope at all_.
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