THE HILLS OF MY COUNTRY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 189, 10 November 1876, Page 6

THE HILLS OF MY COUNTRY.

BT FRANCES BROWN. THE BLIND POETESS Ol" DONEGAL. I came to my country, but not with the hope That brightened my youth, like the cloud lighting brow ; For the vigor of soul that was mighty to cope With time and with fortune hath fled from me now. And love that illumined my wanderings of yore, Hath perished, and left but a weary regret For the star that can rise on my midnight no more — But the hills of my country, they welcome me yet. The hue of their verdure was fresh with me atill When my path was afar by the Tanais' lone track; From the wide spreading deserts and ruins that fill The lands of old story, they welcome me back. They rose on my dreams through the shades of the West; They breathed upon sands which the dew never wet; The echoes were hushed in the home I loved best — But I knew that the mountains would welcome me yet. The dust of my kindred is scattered afar; They lie in the desert, the wild and the wave ; For serving the strangers through wandering and war, The isle of their memory could grant them no grave. And I, I return with the memory of years Whose hope rose so high though in sorrow it set; They have left on my soul but the trace of their tears; But our mountains remember their promises yet! O where are the brave hearts that bounded of old t And where are the faces my childhood hath seen f For fair brows are furrowed, and hearts have grown cold; But our streams are still bright and our hills are still green; Ay, green as they rose to the eyes of my youtb, When, brothers in heart, in their shadows we met; And the hills have no memory of sorrow or ruth. For their summits are sacred to liberty yet.