The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1914-05-09
THE SACK OF BALTIMORE.

THE SACK OF BALTIMORE.
The summer sun is falling soft on
Carbery's hundred isles
The summers sun is cleaning still
through Gabriel's rough defiles;
Old 1nisherkin's crumbled fame looks
like a moulting bird,
And In calm and sleepy swell the
ocean tide is heard.
The hookers lie upon the beach; the
children cease their play;
The gossips leave their little inn: the
households kneel to pray;
And. full of love. and peace, and rest
its daily labour o 'er,
Upon that cosy creek there lay the
town Of Baltimore.
"A deeper rest. starry trance, has
come with midnight there;
NO sound. except that throbbing
wave. in earth, or sea, or air:
The massive capes and ruined towers
seem conscious of the calm;
me fibrous sod and stunted trees are
breathing heavy balm.
so still the night, these two long
barques. round Dunashad that
glide,
Must trust their oars-methinks not
few-against the ebbingtide;
On! some sweet mission of true love
must urge them to the shore:
They bring some lover to his bride.
who signs in Baltimore!
All. all asleep within each roof along
that rocky street;
And these must be the lovers friends
with gentle gliding feet;
A stifled gasp. dreamy noise; the
roof is in flannel"
From out their beds. and to their
doors, rush maid and sire and
dame.
And meet upon the threshold stone
And DER each black and bearded
face the white or crimson
shawl ~-
The yell of "Allah!" breaks above
Oh, blessed God! the Algerine is lord
the prayer and shrek and roar;
of Baltimore!
Then flung the youth his naked hand
against the shearing sword;
Then sprang the mother on the brand
with which her son was gored;
Then sunk the grandsire on the floor.
his grand-babes clutching wild;
Then fed the maiden, moaning. faint.
and nestled, with the child.
But see! Yon pirate strangled lies.
and crushed with splashing heel.
While DER him in an Irish hand there
sweeps his Syrian steel.
Though virtue sink and courage
fail. and misers yield their store.
There's one hearth we'll avenged in
the sack of Baltimore!
Midsummer morn, in woodland nigh,
the birds began to sing;
They see not now the milking maids
deserted is the spring!
Midsummer day-this gallant rides
from distant Bandon's town;
These hookers crossed from stormy
Skull, that skiff from Affadown;
They only found the smoking walls.
with neighbours blood bespent,
And on the strewed and trampled
beach awhile they wildly went:
Then dashed to sea, and passed Cape
Clear, and saw five leagues before
The pirate galleys vanishing that raw
aged Baltimore!
Oh, some must tug the galley's oar.
and some must tend the steed-
This boy will bear sheikh's chibouk.
and that a bey's jerreed.
Oh. some are for the arsenals. by
beauteous Dardanelles.
And some are in the caravan to Mec-
cas- sandy dells.
The maid that Bandon gallant sought
is chosen by the Dey.
She's safe-she's dead-she stabbed
him in the midst of his serai;
And when to die a death Of fire that
noble maid they bore,
She only smiled-ODriscoll's child
she thought of Baltimore.
IT'S two long years since sunk the
town beneath that bloody band,
And all around its trampled hearths a
larger concourse stand,
Where. high upon a gallows tree. q
yelling wretch is seen
IT'S Hackett Of Dungarvan-he who
steered the Algerine!
He fell amid q sullen shout, with
scarce passing prayer.
For he had slain the kith and kin of
many a hundred there.
Some muttered Of MacMurchadh.
who brought the Norman DER
Some cursed him with Iscariot, that
day In Baltimore.
THOMAS DAVIS.