"Take These Heads"

Take these heads upon thy breast, —
Son of Tuirenn brave and best,
Torch of valour, void of guile! —
That we may see Erinn's isle.

Raise upon thy shoulder, too,
These our heads, thou champion true!
That from o'er the waters, we
Usna, Taltin, Tara, see.

Boyne's Bru and Dublin darkling,
Freman and Tlacta sparkling,
Liffey's plain, and Bregia's air,
And the hills round Taltin's Fair.

If I saw Benn Edair forth,
And Dun Tuirenn in the north, —
Welcome then were death to me,
Were it death with agony.