Poets Corner.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 429, 1 July 1881, Page 9

Poets Corner.

THE IRISH DOMINICANS

BY THE VX:RY V.V.V. THOMAS X. BUKKK, O.P. Tm-> iuii'l of (n,i was fi--"o'^ onee — no lnnd was more — For baiiitlinc'SM. .so pur<'. so blight, as well as learned lore ; And strarcrois from a sunny clime weie wafted to our shore. In beating meek, and quaintest garb as ne'er was seen before ; And these were the Dominicans, six hundred years ago. They came with vigil and with fast, men versed in prayer and read In all the sacred books, and soon throughout the land they spread ; The people bless'd them as they passed ; low bowed each tonsured head, So meek, 'twas like the saints, as they shall raise them from the dead, For holy were the Guzman's sons five hundred years ago. And soon their learned voice is heard in pulpit and in chair, Whilst thro' the glorious Gothic aisle resounds their midnight pray'r ; The orphan found beneath their roof a parent's tender care ; Whilst boldly in their country's cause they raised their voice, for there Was Irish blood in Dominic's sons four hundred years ago. When heresy swept over the land like a destroying flood, And tyrants washed their reeking hand in martyr's holy blood, St. Dominic's children then, like men, embraced the stake and stood Before the burning pile as 'twere the Saviour's Holy Rood, Andkiss'd their habits as they bled, three hundred years ago. And whilst the altars fed the flame, and Christ was mocked again, Their faithful voices still were heard in mountain, cave and glen, And thus was saved our Country's Faith, and thus the Lamb was slain, And ne'er was Ireland,s title more the " Isle of Saints " than when The preacher found a martyr's grave, three hundred years ago. And thus for full three centuries they fought the holy fight, In city and on mountain-side from Cashel's sacred height ; True to their country and their God, each man a burning light, They kept a nation's hfeblood warm and saved the Crozier's might, For mitres shone on Preachers' brows one hundred years agj. Now, men of Ireland, raise your thoughts to that bright realm above Where Christian Faith and Hope are lost in all absorbing Love, And blend the serpent's prudence with the sweetness of the dove, And faithful to our Land and Creed, in their bright footsteps move, Who fought and bled and conquered, all these centuries ago ! — Irish Monthly.