Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

A Vision of Connaught in the thirteenth century (Author: James Clarence Mangan)

p.94

1. I walked entranced
   Through a land of Morn;
   The sun, with wondrous excess of light,
   Shone down and glanced
   Over seas of corn
   And lustrous gardens aleft and right.
   Even in the clime
   Of resplendent Spain,
   Beams no such sun upon such a land;
   But it was the time,
   'Twas in the reign,
   Of Cáhal Mór of the Wine-red Hand.
2. Anon stood nigh
   By my side a man
   Of princely aspect and port sublime.
   Him queried I—
   'O, my Lord and Khan,¹

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   p.95

   What clime is this, and what golden time?'
   When he—'The clime
   Is a clime to praise,
   The clime is Erin's, the green and bland;
   And it is the time,
   These be the days,
   Of Cáhal Mór of the Wine-red Hand!'
3. Then saw I thrones,
   And circling fires,
   And a Dome rose near me, as by a spell,
   Whence flowed the tones
   Of silver lyres,
   And many voices in wreathèd swell;
   And their thrilling chime
   Fell on mine ears
   As the heavenly hymn of an angel-band—
   'It is now the time,
   These be the years,
   Of Cáhal Mór of the Wine-red Hand!'
4. I sought the hall,
   And, behold!—a change
   From light to darkness, from joy to woe!
   King, nobles, all,
   Looked aghast and strange;
   The minstrel-group sate in dumbest show!
   Had some great crime
   Wrought this dread amaze,
   This terror? None seemed to understand
   'Twas then the time,
   We were in the days,
   Of Cáhal Mór of the Wine-red Hand.

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p.96

5. I again walked forth;
   But lo! the sky
   Showed fleckt with blood, and an alien sun
   Glared from the north,
   And there stood on high,
   Amid his shorn beams, a skeleton!
   It was by the stream
   Of the castled Maine,
   One Autumn eve, in the Teuton's land,
   That I dreamed this dream
   Of the time and reign
   Of Cáhal Mór of the Wine-red Hand!