The Poetry Corner

Let Erin Remember The Days Of Old.

By Thomas Moore

Let Erin remember the days of old. Ere her faithless sons betrayed her; When Malachi wore the collar of gold,[1] Which he won from her proud invader. When her kings, with standard of green unfurled, Led the Red-Branch Knights to danger;[2] 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 thro' the waves of time For the long-faded glories they cover.[3]