Ballads of Peace in War

THE DARK LITTLE ROSE

    IRELAND

    When shall we find the spring come in,
    And the fragrant air it blows?
    And when shall the bounty of summer win
    Fairer than fields of Camolin
    For the dark little Rose?

    Long was the winter, the storms how long!
    What flower may live i' the snows!
    No bloom shall last under heels of wrong,
    If the heart-blood be not deathless strong,
    As the dark little Rose.

    Sing hers the culture sweeter than rain
    That healed old Europe's woes;
    Older than bowers of Lille and Louvain
    Grew by the Rhine and the towns of Spain
    From the dark little Rose.

    Leagues in the sunlight never shall fail
    While the broad, round ocean flows;
    Though never a fleet goes up Kinsale,
    See, all the world is within the pale
    Of the dark little Rose.