Ae in the Irish Theosophist

When twilight flutters the mountains over / The faery lights from the earth unfold, / And over the hills enchanted hover / The giant heroes and gods of old: / The bird of aether its flaming pinions / Waves over earth the whole night long: / The stars drop down in their blue dominions / To hymn together their choral song: / The child of earth in his heart grows burning / Mad for the night and the deep unknown; / His alien flame in a dream returning / Seats itself on the ancient throne. / When twilight over the mountains fluttered / And night with its starry millions came, / I too had dreams; the thoughts I have uttered. / Come from my heart that was touched by the flame

I thought over the attempts made time after time to gain our freedom; how failure had followed failure until at last it seemed that we must write over hero and chieftain of our cause the memorial spoken of the warriors of old, "They went forth to the battle but they always fell; " and it seemed to me that these efforts resulted in failure because the ideals put forward were not in the plan of nature for us; that it was not in our destiny that we should attempt a civilization like that of other lands. Though the cry of nationality rings for ever in our ears, the word here has embodied to most no other hope than this, that we should when free be able to enter with more energy upon pursuits already adopted by the people of other countries. Our leaders have erected no nobler standard than theirs, and we who, as a race, are the forlorn hope of idealism in Europe, sink day by day into apathy and forget what a past was ours and what a destiny awaits us if we will but rise responsive to it.