THE PASCAL FIRE OF ST. PATRICK. [1]

On Tara's hill the daylight dies--
  On Tara's plain 'tis dead:
"'Till Baal's unkindled fires shall rise,
  No fire must flame instead."
'Tis thus the king commanding speaks,
  Commands and speaks in vain--
For lo! a fire defiant breaks,
  From out the woods of Slane.

For there in prayer is Patrick bent,
  With Christ his soul is knit,
And there before his simple tent
  The Pascal fire is lit.
"What means this flame that through the night
  Illumes all the vale?
What rebel hand a fire dare light
  Before the fires of Baal?

O king! when Baal's dark reign is o'er,
  When thyself art gone,
This fire will light the Irish shore,
  And lead its people on:
Will lead them on full many a night
  Through which they're doomed to go,
Like that which led the Israelite
  From bondage and from woe.

This fire, this sacred fire of God,
  Young hearts shall bear afar
To lands no human foot hath trod,
  Beneath the western star.
To lands where Faith's bright flag, unfurled
  By those who here have knelt,
Shall give unto a newer world
  The sceptre of the Celt.

And thus 'twill be, that there and here,
  In hovel or in hall,
One night in each revolving year
  This memory shall recall.
One hour of brightness in their night,
  Where'er the Gael may roam,
When love the festal fire shall light
  For Patrick and for Home!

St. Patrick's Day, 1867.

1. The Pascal Fire of St. Patrick   See Lanigan's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, t. i., p. 224.

This text may be copied freely, local laws permitting. Please credit the above source.