Classic Poem

High-minded Gaul, whose daring soul
Stoops not to our Chief's controul!
Champion of the navy's pride!
Mighty ruler of the tide!
Rider of the stormy wave,
Hostile nations to enslave!
Shield of freedom's glorious boast!
Head of her unconquer'd host!
Ardent son of Morni's might!
Terror of the fields of fight!
Long renown'd and dreadful name!
Hero of auspicious fame!
Champion, in our cause to arm!
Tongue, with eloquence to charm!
With depth of sense, and reach of manly thought;
With every grace, and every beauty fraught!

Girt with heroic might,
When glory, and thy country call to arms,
Thou go'st to mingle in the loud alarms,
And lead the rage of fight!
Thine, hero! thine the princely sway
Of each conflicting hour;

Thine ev'ry bright endowment to display,
The smile of beauty, and the arm of pow'r!
Science, beneath our hero's shade,
Exults, in all her patron's gifts array'd:
Her Chief, the soul of every fighting field!
The arm, — the heart, alike unknown to yield!

Hear, O Finn! thy people's voice!
Trembling on our hills we plead;
O let our fears to peace incline thy choice!
Divide the spoil, and give the hero's meed!
For bright and various is his wide renown,
And war and science weave his glorious crown!

Did all the hosts of all the earth unite,
From pole to pole, from wave to wave,
Exulting in their might:
His is that monarchy of soul
To fit him for the wide controul,
The empire of the brave!

Friend of learning! mighty name!
Havoc of hosts, and pride of fame!
Fierce as the foaming strength of ocean's rage,
When nature's powers in strife engage,
So does his dreadful progress roll,
And such the force that lifts his soul!

Fear him, chief of Erin's might!
And his foe no longer be;
Sun of honor's sacred light,
Rending storm of death is he!

Finn of the flowing locks, O hear my voice!
No more with Gaul contend!
Be peace, henceforth, thy happy choice,
And gain a valiant friend!

Secure of victory, to the field
His conquering standard goes;
'Tis his the powers of fight to wield,
And woe awaits his foes!

Not to mean insiduous art
Does the great name of Gaul its terrors owe;
But from a brave, undaunted heart
His glories flow!

Stature sublime, and awful mien!
Arm of strength, by valour steel'd!
Sword of fate, in battle keen,
Sweeping o'er the deadly field!

Finn of the dark-brown hair! O hear my voice!
No more with Gaul contend!
Be peace sincere henceforth thy choice,
And gain a valiant friend!
In peace, tho' inexhausted from his breast
Each gentle virtue flows,
In war, no force his fury can arrest,
And hopeless are his foes.

Leader of the shock of arms,
Loudest in the loud alarms!
Friend of princes, princely friend,
First in bounty to transcend!
Patron of the schools encrease!
Sword of war, and shield of peace!

Glory of the fields of fame!
Pride of hosts! llustrious name!
Strength of pow'r! triumphant might!
Firm maintainer of the fight!
Fierce in the conflicting hour;
Bulwark of the royal pow'r!

O generous charm of all-accomplish'd love! —
Locks of bright redundant shade!
Breast where strength and beauty strove!
White as the hue the chalky cliffs display'd!
To thee glad Erin should her homage pay,
And joy to own thy glorious sway!
Spirit resolute to dare!
Aspect sweet beyond compare,
Bright with inspiring soul! with blooming beauty fair!
Warrior of majestic charms!
High in fame, and great in arms!
Well thy daring soul may tow'r,
Nothing is above thy pow'r!
Hear, O Finn! my ardent zeal,
While his glories I reveal!
Fierce as ocean's angry wave,
When conflicting tempests rave;
As still, with the encreasing storm,
Increasing ruin clothes its dreadful form,
Such is the Chief, o'erwhelming in his force,
Unconquer'd in his swift, resistless course!

Tho' in the smiles of blooming grace array'd,
And bright in beauty's every charm;
Yet think not, therefore, that his soul will bend,
Nor with the Chief contend;
For well he knows to wield the glittering blade,
And fatal is his arm!
Bounty in his bosom dwells;
High his soul of courage swells!
Fierce the dreadful war to wage,
Mix in the whirl of fight, and guide the battle's rage!
Wide, wide around triumphant ruin wield,
Roar through the ranks of death, and thunder o'er the field!

Many a chief of mighty sway
Fights beneath his high command;
Marshals his troops in bright array,
And spreads his banners o'er the land.

Champion of unerring aim!
Chosen of Kings, triumphant name!
Bounty's hand, and Wisdom's head,
Valiant arm, and lion soul,
O'er red heaps of slaughter'd dead,
Thundering on to Glory's goal!

Pride of Finian fame, and arms!
Mildness of majestic charms!
Swiftness of the battle's rage
Theme of the heroic page!

Firm in purpose! fierce in fight!
Arm of slaughter! soul of might!
Glory's light! illustrious name!
Splendour of the paths of fame!
Born bright precedent to yield,
And sweep with death the hostile field!

Leader of Sylvan sports; the hound, the horn,
The early melodies of morn! —
Love of the fair, and favourite of the muse.
In peace, each peaceful science to diffuse:
Prince of the noble deeds! accomplish'd name!
Increasing bounty! comprehensive fame!

Ardent, bold, unconquer'd Knight!
Breaker of the bulwark's might!
Chief of war's resistless blade,
With spears of wrath, and arms of death array'd!
Heroic Gaul! beneath thy princely sway,
The earth might bend, and all her host obey!

Hear, O Gaul! the poet's voice!
O be peace thy gen'rous choice!
Yield thee to the Bard's desire!
Calm the terrors of thine ire!
Cease we here our mutual strife;
And peaceful be our future life!

G AUL . I yield, O Fergus! to thy mild desire;
Thy words, O Bard! are sweet;
Thy wish I freely meet,
And bid my wrath expire.
No more to discontent a prey,
I give to peace the future day:
To thee my soul I bend,
O guileless friend!
The accents of whose glowing lip well know that soul to sway.

Bard . O swift in honor's course! thou generous name!
Illustrious Chief, of never dying fame!