WHITHER?

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 70, 29 August 1874, Page 13

WHITHER?

BT MAEY A. MCMWLLKK (UNA).

[All Irish paper of a recent date says that this Spring •' there is a continuous stream of young people leaving Drogheda to embark for the far West." Years ago it was like rending the heart-strings to say furewell to Ireland. Has the love of land. grown weaker, or is the country changed? We may bury tinder the cypress our liopes of au Irish nation, when the Celt walks quietly out of his home to give possession to the Saxon.] Whither, oh, whither, so swiftly rushing, Far from your ancient and storied land ? Where can you seek for more fruitful valleys, Breezees more bracing, or scenes more grand ? Where ? You are leaving your hearts behind you, ■ Here will they linger though far you roam. Why do you turn from the land that lores you ? Why are you hasting away from home P Wherefore, oh, wherefore, my son 3, my daughters, Flee you away to a stranger shore ? Thousand before you went o'er the waters, Went — but alas ! they returned no more. Now is their clay but the soil of strangers, Lost are their children to me for ayo ; What do they care for the hills of their fathers Watched through their tears as they sailed away. <( Ah ! " do you sigh, "we can stay no longer ? Strangers are lords of our rightful soil ;

Theirs is the wealth of the teeming valleys, Our the struggle, the woe, the toil ; Bight has departed, and we must follow." Why, oh, my sons ! You have strong, true hands — Better to fall for your homes than perish Toiling unknown and in distant lands. Whither, for still you are going, goiiig ? Oh ! will you leave me alone — alone — Here with tyrant to mock the anguish Wrung from my heart for ray children gone ? r Lo ! you may see on the world's broad pages Written my doom as you leave the shore : Ireland, one of the oldest, the proudest, Grandest of nations exists no more. Whither, oh, whither ? the plains, the mountains, The rivers are calling ; all are yours — Yours, if you strive for them. Win and hold them . Long as the ocean or earth endures. Stay where your hearts are, my sons, my daughters, List to your nation's, your mother's cry ; Stay, ere I weep out my soul in sorrow, Cover my brow in the dust and die !