School: Dean Kelly Memorial (roll number 16639)
- Location:
- Athlone, Co. Westmeath
- Teacher: D. Cahalene
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0748, Page 213
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- The Wood of St. John's(about 5 miles from Athlone - Roscommon side - on the shores of Lough Ree)
Ye dark solemn woods by the Shannon's green shore
What rapture I feel as I see you once more
And rest in your soul-soothing shelter today
Where fleeted life's happiest moments away.
When gay was my heart as the warblers whose song
Enlivened each shady retreat all day long
As in childhood's sweet days here I fondly delayed
To cull the wild flowers of the emerald glade.
How changed is each leafy arcade and lone dell
Where erstwhile the fairies delighted to dwell
And marshalled their hosts by the light of the moon
As thick as the leaves by an autumn's blast strewn
Where Druidic ghosts on the dark winter nights
Come back to perform their old mystical rites
And the banshee at eve sang her sad monotone
When a soul from its weary clay prison had flown
I see not alas my old favourite trees
That sang me a soft lullaby in the breeze
As I lay at their feet, and a calm holy dream
(?) my soul used to steal like the moon o'er the stream.(continues on next page)
