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Show SHALL WE FORGET? "Forget the past. ... It is about time that Irishmen should forget past differences. . . . 1 would rather see an Irishman a railroad director, secretary secre-tary or superintendent than a lineal descendant pf Brian Boru" Extract from speech of an Irish-American at Hibernian social given in Kansas City, Kan., some months ago. Forget the past? No. no: the tears Of anguish by a nation shed The sorrows of six hundred years The butcheries-the cries for bread The dreary days of penal gloom The broken pledges all arise Like apparitions from the tomb. And come before our mental eyes. Forget the past? The names that shine Upon our country's his'try's page Forbid that we at Mammon's shrine Should offer up the heritage That they have left a love sincere. A loyal faith, a hope sublime: Let cowards forget! Those names so dear To us shall be undimmed by time! Forget the past? The virtues rare The hope, the faith and trust in kept our land from dull despair When by the tyrant's foot 'twas trod. Assume a form which bars the way I That leads to Lethe's silent sea. And guides the feet, that fain would stray. To tread the paths of Memory. Forget the past? Oh. do not dare! For in the past bright flowers bloom Than all the flow'rs of earth more fair. Refreshing with their sweet perfume: And who without ignoble shame Would barter mem'ries fond away For worldly wisdom, wealth or fame-Ambitions fame-Ambitions that but last a day. -, E.F. McKenna. |
