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- An Introduction
My land is steeped in stories of a mother who sends her children
out into the world, seldom to see them return. It is a history
of sadness and glory and it is also the history of my own family.
The Irish landscape is suffused with the longings of dreams that
were fulfilled in the outside world. Generation after generation
of large families have crossed the waves to create a new life
on a foreign shore, especially in America.. Ireland is a place
where dreams are born. America is a place where dreams are made
reality. In Irish folklore, there is a magical land called "Tir
na nOg"- The Land Of Eternal Youth. America has become the
Tir na nOg for the millions of Irish emigrants who landed here
with nothing but hopes and dreams.
- Ireland today, however, is treading on a new course. Increasingly,
she is becoming a part of the world about her, and in the years
ahead, she will cease to be a brood mare constantly pining for
her lost foal. My family will no longer ride a wave of no return.
- This poem is my tribute to Ireland and her sons and daughters
everywhere:
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Ode to Ireland - From a Son Beyond The Wave
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- Womb of the world
You nourished and you nurtured
O'er wave on wave of pain
Abroad you delivered
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- The shores we cast upon
We made into our home
This world of spacious bounty
Brought our souls to bloom
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- Here in Tir na nOg
We prospered all our dreams
And felt dim memories of Eire
In the crashing of the waves
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- Now on wings of silver steeds
We sweep back to reclaim
Once again to softly nestle
In the bosom of our dreams
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- Joy quivering - descends upon
The voyagers returned
And the spirit that takes to the air once more
Is borne on visions renewed.
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