UNHAPPY Erin, what a lot was thine! Half-conquer'd by a greedy robber band; Ill govern'd with now lax, now ruthless hand; Misled by zealots, wresting laws divine To sanction every dark or mad design; Lured by false lights of pseudo-patriot league Through crooked paths of faction and intrigue; And drugg'd with selfish flattery's poison'd wine. Yet, reading all thy mournful history, Thy children, with a mystic faith sublime, Turn to the future, confident that Fate, Become at last thy friend, reserves for thee, To be thy portion in the coming time, They know not what -- but surely something great. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WHEN LOVE WAS BORN by SARA TEASDALE FOR LOVE'S SAKE, KISS ME ONCE AGAIN! by BEN JONSON MARCHING (AS SEEN FROM THE LEFT FILE) by ISAAC ROSENBERG ON THE COLLAR OF MRS. DINGLEY'S LAP-DOG by JONATHAN SWIFT IN THE VALLEY OF CAUTERETZ by ALFRED TENNYSON TO BARON DE STONNE.....TO FIND HIMSELF BETWEEN by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 10. LONELY by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |