The Priests Of Ireland Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFGHIJJJ KKLLMMNNDD OOP FFQQRRSTUUVVDDWXYYZZ RRA2A2A2B2B2VVC2C2D2 D2D2D2E2| YOU have waited Priests of Ireland until the hour was late | A |
| You have stood with folded arms until 'twas asked Why do they wait | A |
| By the fever and the famine you have seen your flocks grow thin | B |
| Till the whisper hissed through Ireland that your silence was a sin | B |
| You have looked with tearless eyes on fleets of exile laden ships | C |
| And the hands that stretched toward Ireland brought no tremor to your lips | C |
| In the sacred cause of freedom you have seen your people band | D |
| And they looked to you for sympathy you never stirred a hand | D |
| But you stood upon the altar with their blood within your veins | E |
| And you bade the pale faced people to be patient in their chains | E |
| Ah you told them it was cruel but you said they were not true | F |
| To the holy faith of Patrick if they were not ruled by yon | G |
| Yes you told them from the altar they the vanguard of the Faith | H |
| With your eyes like flint against them that their banding was a death | I |
| Was a death to something holy till the heart wrung people cried | J |
| That their priests had turned against them that they bad no more a guide | J |
| That the English gold had bought you yes they said it but they lied | J |
| - | |
| Yea they lied they sinned not knowing you they had not gauged your love | K |
| Heaven bless you Priests of Ireland for the wisdom from above | K |
| For the strength that made you loving them crush back the tears that rose | L |
| When your country's heart was quiv'ring 'neath the statesman's muffled blows | L |
| You saw clearer far than they did and you grieved for Ireland's pain | M |
| But you did not rouse the people and your silence was their gain | M |
| For too often has the peasant dared to dash his naked arm | N |
| 'Gainst the saber of the soldier but you shielded him from harm | N |
| And your face was set against him though your heart was with his hand | D |
| When it flung aside the plow to snatch a pike for fatherland | D |
| - | |
| O God bless you Priests of Ireland You were waiting with a will | O |
| Yon were waiting with a purpose when you bade your flocks be still | O |
| And you preached from off your altars not alone the Word Sublime | P |
| But your silence preached to Irishmen 'Be patient bide your time ' | - |
| And they heard you and obeyed as well as outraged men could do | F |
| Only some who loved poor Ireland but who erred in doubting you | F |
| Doubting yon who could not tell them why you spake the strange behest | Q |
| You who saw the day was coming when the moral strength was best | Q |
| You whose hearts were sore with looking on your country's quick decay | R |
| You whose chapel seats were empty and your people fled away | R |
| You who marked amid the fields where once the peasant's cabin stood | S |
| You who saw your kith and kindred swell the emigration flood | T |
| You the soggarth in the famine and the helper in the frost | U |
| You whose shadow was a sunshine when all other hope was lost | U |
| Yes they doubted and you knew it but you never said a word | V |
| Only preached ' Be still be patient '' and thank God your voice was heard | V |
| Now the day foreseen is breaking it has dawned upon the land | D |
| And the priests still preach in Ireland do they bid their flocks disband | D |
| Do they tell them still to suffer and be silent No their words | W |
| Flash from Dublin Bay to Connaught brighter than the gleam of swords | X |
| Flash from Donegal to Kerry and from Waterford to Clare | Y |
| And the nationhood awaking thrills the sorrow laden air | Y |
| Well they judged their time they waited till the bar was glowing white | Z |
| Then they swung it on the anvil striking down with earnest might | Z |
| And the burning sparks that scatter lose no luster on their way | R |
| Till five million hearts in Ireland and ten millions faraway | R |
| Feel the first good blow and answer and they will not rest with one | A2 |
| Now the first is struck the anvil shows the labor well begun | A2 |
| Swing them in with lusty sinew and the work will soon be done | A2 |
| Let them sound from hoary Cashel Kerry Meath and Ross stand forth | B2 |
| Let them ring from Cloyne and Tuam and the Primate of the North | B2 |
| Ask not class or creed let 'Ireland ' be the talismanic word | V |
| Let the blessed sound of unity from North to South be heard | V |
| Came the words 'No creed distinctions ' on O'Connell's granite tomb | C2 |
| And his dust will feel their meaning and rekindle in the gloom | C2 |
| Priest to priest to sound the summons and the answer man to man | D2 |
| With the people round the standard and the prelates in the van | D2 |
| Let the heart of Ireland's hoping keep this golden rule of Cloyne | D2 |
| Till the Orange fades from Berry and the shadow from the Boyne | D2 |
| Let the words be carried outward till the farthest lands they reach | E2 |
| 'After Christ their country's freedom do the Irish prelates preach ' | - |
John Boyle O'reilly
(1)
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