Gerald Griffin.

1803-1840

671   Eileen Aroon

WHEN like the rising day,
       Eileen Aroon!
Love sends his early ray,
       Eileen Aroon!
What makes his dawning glow,
Changeless through joy or woe?
Only the constant know:—
       Eileen Aroon!

I know a valley fair,
       Eileen Aroon!
I knew a cottage there,
       Eileen Aroon!
Far in that valley’s shade
I knew a gentle maid,
Flower of a hazel glade,—
       Eileen Aroon!...

Were she no longer true,
       Eileen Aroon!
What should her lover do?
       Eileen Aroon!
Fly with his broken chain
Far o’er the sounding main,
Never to love again,—
       Eileen Aroon!