Lines Written on St Patrick's Purgatory Lough Derg
Dublin Core
Title
Lines Written on St Patrick's Purgatory Lough Derg
Subject
Lough Derg--Pilgrimage--Oral History--Poetry
Description
A poem by J. Patton on Lough Derg from the Schools' Collection
Creator
J. Patton
Source
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0675, Pages 144-45
Publisher
National Folklore Collection, UCD
Date
1937-39
Contributor
duchas.ie, hosting and crowd-sourced transcription
Rights
CC BY-NC 4.0 International License
Format
Transcribed text and digitised manuscript
Language
English
Type
Oral history, folklore
Identifier
DD_0320
Coverage
54.6083, -7.8714
References
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5008871/4962384
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
"Dear home of penance, peaceful holy dale,
Far from the foolish world, its cares and ills,
Around the dark Lough stretches many a rill,
Framed like a mirror by the blue green hills.
Its waters kiss thy shores with fond embrace,
When breezes gently sigh and sunbeams warm,
When wild winds blow, its billows round thee race,
Like faithful watch dogs shielding three from harm.
Thou art not beautiful and fair to view,
As islets rich in flowers and verdure green,
But one can feel the beauty deep in you,
As a pure soul illumes a body mean.
To even tread thy soil is to have shared,
The mystic sanctity that hovers round,
One listens for the voice that Moses heard,
'Take off thy shoes for this is holy ground.'
The sinner comes to the with head downward,
World weary, wretched, with despair imbrewed,
When thy shore days of chastenment are passed
he leaves there happy, hope and faith-renewed.
Dear Martyred isle, long years the bigot strove
with fell destruction and with ruin stark
with fiendish hatred for thy people drove
And all but sunk thee 'neath the waters dark.
But all in vain that fury hell inspired
Time after time thy modest shrines arise,
By greater love thy clients hearts were fired
As each new penalty the tyrant tries.
For little do they know the Irish heart
So long sustained by Paidrig's prayers above,
To think that fear or suffering world part
His people from his shrine 'twould but increase their love.
How proud we are dead island that we see
Though who through long sad years thy people cheered
Now when religion faith triumphant be,
Thou'rt still in holy erin most revered.
God's wondrous mercy and His loving hand
Has crowned thy sorrows with a rich reward,
A whole church the first in all the land,
Pray his love keeps thee and forever guard."
Far from the foolish world, its cares and ills,
Around the dark Lough stretches many a rill,
Framed like a mirror by the blue green hills.
Its waters kiss thy shores with fond embrace,
When breezes gently sigh and sunbeams warm,
When wild winds blow, its billows round thee race,
Like faithful watch dogs shielding three from harm.
Thou art not beautiful and fair to view,
As islets rich in flowers and verdure green,
But one can feel the beauty deep in you,
As a pure soul illumes a body mean.
To even tread thy soil is to have shared,
The mystic sanctity that hovers round,
One listens for the voice that Moses heard,
'Take off thy shoes for this is holy ground.'
The sinner comes to the with head downward,
World weary, wretched, with despair imbrewed,
When thy shore days of chastenment are passed
he leaves there happy, hope and faith-renewed.
Dear Martyred isle, long years the bigot strove
with fell destruction and with ruin stark
with fiendish hatred for thy people drove
And all but sunk thee 'neath the waters dark.
But all in vain that fury hell inspired
Time after time thy modest shrines arise,
By greater love thy clients hearts were fired
As each new penalty the tyrant tries.
For little do they know the Irish heart
So long sustained by Paidrig's prayers above,
To think that fear or suffering world part
His people from his shrine 'twould but increase their love.
How proud we are dead island that we see
Though who through long sad years thy people cheered
Now when religion faith triumphant be,
Thou'rt still in holy erin most revered.
God's wondrous mercy and His loving hand
Has crowned thy sorrows with a rich reward,
A whole church the first in all the land,
Pray his love keeps thee and forever guard."
Original Format
Crowd-sourced transcription (English)
Files
Citation
J. Patton, “Lines Written on St Patrick's Purgatory Lough Derg,” Digital Derg: A Deep Map, accessed April 27, 2024, https://digitalderg.eu/items/show/340.