The Irish Maiden's Song

You know it now — it is betrayed
This moment in mine eye,
And in my young cheek's crimson shade,
And in my whispered sigh —
You know it, now — yet listen, now —
Though ne'er was love more true,
My plight and troth and virgin vow
Still, still I keep from you,
Ever —

Ever, until a proof you give
How oft you've heard me say
I would not even his empress live
Who idles life away,
Without one effort for the land
In which my fathers' graves
Were hallowed by a despot hand
To darkly close on slaves—
Never !

See ! round yourself the shackles hang,
Yet come you to love's bowers,
That only he may soothe their pang
Or hide their links in flowers —
But try all things to snap them, first,
And, should all fail, when tried,
The fated chain you cannot burst
My twining arms shall hide —
Ever !