WAKE OF WILLIAM ORR.

By William Drennan

Here our worthy brother lies;

Wake not Him with women's cries;

Mourn the way that manhood ought

$it in. silent trance of thought.

Write his merits on your mind'

Morals pure and manners kind

On his head, as on a bill.

Virtue placed her citadel.

Why cut off in palmy. youth?

Truth he spoke, and acted truth.

"Countrymen, UNITE!" he cried,

And died, for what his Saviour died!

God of peace, and God of love,

Let it not thy vengeance move,

Let it not thy lightnings draw

A nation guillotined by law.

Hapless nation, rent and torn,

Early wert thou taught to mourn

Warfare of six hundred years,

Epochs marked by blood and tears.

Hunted thro' thy native grounds,

A flung REWARD to human hounds;

Each one pulled and tore his share,

Emblem of thy deep despair.

Hapless nation-hapless land,

Heap of uncementing, sand;

Crumbled by a foreign weight;

And by worse, domestic hate.

God of mercy, God of peace,

Make the mad confusion cease;

O'er the mental chaos move,

Through it speak the light of love.

Monstrous and unhappy sight,

Brother's blood will not unite;

Holy oil and holy water,

Mix, and fill the earth with slaughter.

Who is she with aspect wild?

The widowed mother with her child,

Child new stirring in the womb,

Husband waiting for the tomb.

Angel of this sacred place

Calm her soul and whisper, peace,

Cord, nor axe, nor guillotine

Make the sentence-not the sin.

Here we watch our brother's sleep,

Watch with us, but do not weep;

Watch with us through dead of night,

But expect the morning light.

Conquer fortune-persevere--

Lo! it breaks-the mornin clear!

The cheerful COCK awakes the skies,

The day is come-arise, arise

FEMINIS LUGERE HONESTUM ES VIRIS ME MINISSE."

Ballymore, October, 1797.

For more about Dr William Drennan and the United Irishmen see the note about the Volunteers.