By wild Kilbrannon shore. ----R. D. Joyce. THE GREEN DOVE AND THE RAVEN |There was a dove with wings of green, Glistening o'er so radiantly, With head of blue and golden sheen, All sad and wearily Sitting two red blooms between On lovely Barna's wild-wood tree. There was a letter 'neath its wing, Written by a fair ladye, Safely bound with silken string So light and daintily, And in that letter was a ring, On lovely Barna's wild-wood tree. There was a raven, black and drear, Stained with blood all loathsomely, Perched upon the branches near, Croaking mournfully, And he said, "O dove, what bring'st thou here To lovely Barna's wild-wood tree?" "I'm coming from a ladye gay, To the young heir of sweet Glenore, His ring returned, it is to say She'll never love him more,-- Alas the hour! alas the day! -- By murmuring Funcheon's fairy shore." "O dove, outspread thy wings of green; I'll guide thee many a wild-wood o'er; I'll bring thee where I last have seen The young heir of Glenore, Beneath the forest's sunless screen, By murmuring Funcheon's fairy shore." O'er many a long mile did they flee, The dove, the raven stained with gore, And found beneath the murderer's tree The young heir of Glenore,-- A bloody, ghastly corpse was he, By murmuring Funcheon's fairy shore. "Go back, go back, thou weary dove,-- To the cruel maid tell o'er and o'er, He's death's and mine, her hate or love Can never reach him more-- To his ice-cold heart in Molagga's grove, By murmuring Funcheon's fairy shore." ----R. D. Joyce. MANNIX THE COINER |Mannix the coiner and Neville the Piper-- Rebels and outlaws, jolly as thrushes; They lived in a lane where they had a great reign Of piping and coining, and drinking like fishes. Neville he swore, with wild fury, That Mannix should share with him half the prog; Then Mannix jump'd up, in a hurry, And sent off the wife for a gallon of grog. "Well done!" said the piper; "Play up!" said the coiner, "We've gold in our pockets and grog on the brain; The _law_ and the gallows are made in the palace, While we, who defy them, rejoice in the lane!" When the grog was brought in, they soon _swiggd_ it, And Neville then _rasp'd_ up another gay tune, And bold Mannix merrily jigg'd it, As brisk as a bee in the meadows of June. "Well done!" said the piper--"Play up!" said the coiner, "We are the _boys_ that can _live everywhere!_ Life, without fun, is like spring without sun-- So we'll _flash_ it away, and the devil may care! "Those guineas--whoever may take'em-- Are but flying tokens to worldly fools lent, And I am the _boy_ that can make'em, As bright as e'er came from the Sassenach