LOUGH INE.

New Zealand Tablet, 22 July 1920, Page 33

LOUGH IN E.

[FitzJanies O'Brien was .born in Limerick in 1828 and went to America in 1852. He contributed to the Atlantic Monthly a „d other periodicals. On the outbreak ot the Civil War he joined the National Guard'of New lork and attained the rank of captain. He died of wounds on April 6, 1862 at Cumberland, Virginia. Lough Jno is a beautiful sea lake near Baltimore, Co. Cork.] I know a lake where the cool waves break, „ And softly fall on the silver sand; And no steps intrude on that solitude And no voice, save mine, disturbs the strand. And a mountain bold, like a giant of old ' Turned to stone by some magic spell, Uprears in might his misty height, And J,is craggy sides are wooded well. In the midst doth' smile a little isle, And its verdure shames the emerald's greenOn its grassy side, in ruined pride, . A castle of old is darkling seen. On its lofty crest the wild cranes nest, - Li its halls 'the sheep good shelter find; And the ivy shades where a hundred blades Were hung when the owners in sleep reclined. That chieftain of old, could he now behold ills lordly tower a shepherd's pen, ' His corpse, long dead, from its -narrow bed Would rise with anger and shame again. - Tis sweet to gaze when the sun's bright rays Are cooling themselves in the trembling wave, But tis sweeter far when the evening star Shines like a smile at Friendship's grave. There the hollow shells through their wreathed cells Make music on the silent shore, As the summer breeze, through the distant trees, Murmurs in fragrant breathings o'er. And the seaweed shines, like the hidden mines, Ur the fairy cities beneath the sea : Of the wave-washed stones are bright as the thrones Of the ancient Kings of Araby. es If it were my lot in that fairy" spot To live forever, and dream 'twere mine . ' - Courts might woo, and kings pursue ' - ' ' Ere I would leave thee, loved Locli-Ine. * m —FitzJames O'Brien.