The Adventures of Seumas Beg Part 3

Who knows a thing and will not tell Shall spend eternity in h.e.l.l; But he who learns and teaches free In heaven spends eternity.

Around the Leinster Lawn we go Into Molesworth Street, and so To Saint Stephen's Green, where we Hang a banner on a tree.

THE Ca.n.a.l BANK

I know a girl, And a girl knows me, And the owl says, what?

And the owl says, who?

But what we know We both agree That n.o.body else Shall hear or see, It's all between Herself and me: To wit? said the owl, To woo, said I, To-what, to-wit, to-woo!

BY ANA LIFFEY

If you come to live with me, I will sing so heartily In your honour that you will Stay to wonder at my skill.

In your honour I will fill The world with songs of triumph, till You and I and Time are old Pipers of the Age of Gold.

Time and you and I will hold, Everywhere by field and fold, Concerts of content, and be Known afar for jollity.

Everywhere by fold and field We will wander well-agreed; So I sing right heartily, Come along and live with me.

FROM HAWK AND KITE

Poor, frightened, fluttered, silent one!

If we had seen your nest of clay We would have pa.s.sed it by, and gone, Nor frightened you away.

For there are others guard a nest From hawk and kite and lurking foe, And more despair is in their breast Than you can ever know.

s.h.i.+eld the nests where'er they be, On the ground or on the tree; Guard the poor from treachery.

THE GOMBEEN-MAN

I put the sky into my pocket, And the sea into my locket, And into my breeches-band I put the land.

So I was trotting off to share, Among my comrades in the lair, Our profits, when a peeler came And took my name.

And now I'm in the County Gaol!

Will anybody be my bail?

Will anybody be my bail And take me from the County Gaol?

BERESFORD PLACE

The man who has and does not give Shall break his neck, and cease to live; But he who gives without a care Shall gather rubies from the air.

AT THE FAIR

The lark shall never come to say To a gombeen-man, "Good day,"

And the lark shall never cry To a kindly man, "Good-bye."

See the greedy gombeen-man Taking everything he can From man and woman, dog and cat-- And the lark does not like that.

THE FUR COAT

I walked out in my Coat of Pride, I looked about on every side, And said the mountains should not be Just where they were, and that the sea Was badly placed, and that the beech Should be an oak--and then from each I turned in dignity as if They were not there: I sniffed a sniff, And climbed upon my sunny shelf, And sneezed a while, and scratched myself.

DUBLIN MEN

A Dublin man will frown when he Hears a tale of villainy; But when a kindness you relate, He swings and whistles on the gate.

O'CONNELL BRIDGE

In Dublin town the people see Gorgeous clouds sail gorgeously, They are finer, I declare, Than the clouds of anywhere.

A swirl of blue and red and green, A stream of blinding gold, a sheen From silver hill and pearly ridge Comes each evening on the bridge.

So when you walk in a field, look down, Lest you tramp on a daisy's crown, But in a city look always high And watch the beautiful clouds go by.

CHARLOTTE STREET

Inside a soap shop, down a lane, A big bee buzzed on a window-pane,