“艾琳修女，是什么使你的脸，像你的山一样，仍然沾满了泪水?”仿佛某种远古的悲哀或耻辱，某种遥远岁月来的难以忘怀的冤屈，加在你的名字上，加在你的族类上，萦绕在你的心里，笼罩着你的整个头脑;所以，无论是季节的变迁，还是让悲伤的人欢欣鼓舞的希望之声，都不能解除你的忧郁，而你，尽管仁慈无情，却随着海浪呻吟，和风哀号。来吧，让我们坐在你的悬崖上，我们两人，从那里我们可以远眺你那柔软的绿色小岛，被不可估量的强大的大海包围着，瞧!抬起头，甜蜜地微笑;你要向我诉说你所有的痛苦，透过深邃的蓝眼睛和未编的黑发，用你亲手编织的头巾遮住，那是你和冬天最后一次在一起悲伤的时候，而在我们脚下，湍急的泡沫冲刷着悬崖、小溪、海湾和海鸟的歌声。于是，她的目光半收，半收，她抚平了身下的披肩，双手紧握在膝上，就像一个祈祷的人，看着翻腾的巨浪抓住了野山羊不能吃草的光滑的岩石，然后退缩了，颤抖着喷水和冒烟。我还能看到她那饱经风霜的脸下流淌着她的热血:仿佛她的心要碎了，她的声音要哽咽了，她说话的声音里充满了仇恨和哽咽。“他们带着贪婪的掠夺，漂洋过海，把我从沼泽里赶来赶去，把我从沼泽里赶去，把我从沼泽里赶去，把我从沼泽里赶去，把我从沼泽里赶去，把我从沼泽里赶去，把我从沼泽里赶去，把我赶去，把我赶去，把我赶去。我被人折磨，被人追捕，在这片土地上逃窜，我躲在山洞里，树林里，山间，那里雾气凝结，盲目的狂风呼啸，我吮吸着我的仇恨，磨砺着我的烙印，我的心碰着他们的心，我的手碰着他们的手。 ``And ever as I fled, they ever pursued. They drove away my cattle and my flocks, And left me, me a Mother! to claw for food 'Mong ocean-boulders and the brackish rocks Where sea-hogs wallow and gorged cormorants brood; Unroofed my hut, set the sere thatch aflame, Scattered my hearth-fire to the wintry air, Made what was bare before stretch yet more bare, I waxing wilder more they strove to tame, To force and guile alike implacably the same. ``They would not suffer me to weep or pray: Upon the altar of my Saints they trod; They banned my Faith, they took my Heaven away, And tried to rob me of my very God! And, when I sued them leave me where I lay, And get them hence, still, still they would not go. They reft the spindle from my famished hands, My kith and kin they drove to other lands, Widowed and orphaned me! And now you know Why all my face is wet, and all my voice is woe!'' I crept a little nearer, and I laid My hand on hers, and fondled it with mine; And, ``Listen, dear Sister Erin,''soft I said, ``Not to the moaning of the salt-sea brine, Nor to the melancholy crooning made By thoughts attuned to Sorrow's ancient song, But to the music of a mellower day. Forgive! Forget! lest harsher lips should say, Like your turf fire, your rancour smoulders long. Now let Oblivion strew Time's ashes o'er this wrong. ``The robber bands that filled the Isle with groans Were long since clamped and prisoned in their graves: The flesh hath dried and shrivelled from their bones, Their wild war-standards rotted from their staves; Their name is nought. 'Tis thus that Time atones For all the griefs man fastens on his kind. The days were dire, his passions swift and fell: His very Heaven was but a sterner Hell. His love was thraldom, hatred black and blind, As headstrong as the wave, as wayward as the wind. ``Nor did alone you suffer. You too dealt Full many a stroke, too fierce to be subdued Till you had made the fangs of vengeance felt. Mercy and truce you spurned, and fed the feud Of Celt with Saxon, Saxon against Celt, Till lust enforced whatever law forbade. Nay! do not linger on that painful dream, But turn and smile! as when a silvery gleam Dimples your loughs that whilom seemed so sad, And runs along the wave, and glistens and is glad! ``We own our fault the greater, so we now For balance of that wrong would make amends. Lift the low wimple from your clouded brow, Give me your gaze, and say that we are friends; And be your mountains witness of that vow, Your dewy dingles white with blossoming sloe, Your tawny torrents tumbling to the sea: For You are far the fairest of the Three, And we can never, never, let you go, Long as your warm heart beats, long as your bright eyes glow. ``The Triune Flag, none now save Tyrants dread,