Books and other items printed in Gaelic from 1871 to 1900 > Gaelic bards, and original poems

CAPTAIN GORRIE’s RIDE.
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Have sent him from their jovial cheer,
To take this cheerless ride 1
’Twere better sure for horse and man,
To hold till morrow morn,
The steaming jug, the merry talk,
The stable and the corn.
But the Captain—it was harvest then—
The Captain thought not so;
And though the night was dim and dark,
The Captain he would go.
And ever as he onward rode,
He hummed a manly strain ;
In tent and field, he used to sing,
In Asia and in Spain.
The road is long,—the Captain stern
And sterner sings the while;
’Tis a song of Fionn Mac Cu’aill,
The hero of the Gael.
And ever as he sings, he hears
The massy tread below,
Of the steed that bore him safely
Up the promontory’s brow.
When the narrow rocky footway
To the old fort that led,
Rung loud with sound unwonted
Beneath his iron tread.
And the captain he looks round and hums
More daringly and clear, <.
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