THE PEOPLE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 14, 26 July 1889, Page 11

THE PEOPLE.

(From the Nation.) I. 'TiS not to kings or chieftains bold 1 raise my simple song ; Their praises often have been told In legends loud and long ; The men who fill the ranks I sing, Uuknown to Fame's bright ray, Who've fought —and lost, maybe —but yet Who've never given away. Upright they stood from first to last, It -ilways was the way, And the People's mighty heart, my boys, Is true at steel to-day. 11, Our sacred cause e'er now we've Ee-jn Deserted, bought and sold, And leaders have been faiibless found', From weakcess or for gold ; But there they sand who uever yet Tbe old green fi ig h.iv; lowered, Who ne'er to tyrant bowed the knee, Who shrank not irom tbe s.void. Bj'h ciaft and compromise they scorned, They only knew one way, And ihe People's mighly heart, my boys, Is true a 9 s eel tc-day. ill. From sire to eon they passed it on, This heritage, this cause — A nation's name a nation's flag. Its senate and its laws; They braved the scaffold and the dock, The famine and the sea ; Their bodies torn by every shock, Their souls were ever free. No fear, no bribs could tempt aside, Or bar them on their way, And the People's mighty heart, my bnys, Is true as steel to-day. IV. Then tell me not such faith as this Has lasted on in vain, That all for naught we've met and dared \ These years of toil and pain. Who sowed such s ed will surely reap, And happy yet we'll see The People who s) much have dared For truth and liberty. Then, come, my brotheis, side by side, As in ihe good old way, We'll show tne world that Ireland's heart Beats stong and high tc-Jay. Liverpsol Irish Literary Institute. ZKBO.