per Ocean sobs forever more,
Ungemm'd, unjeweled, on its wailing shore!"

"What wouldst thou do?" responded heaven's great King.
"Add music to the song the breakers sing!"
The strong-soul'd seraph cried, "I'd make yon sea
Rival in tone heaven's sweetest minstrelsy;
I'd plant within the ocean's bubbling tide
An island gem, of every sea the pride!
So bright in robes of ever-living green,
In breath so sweet, in features so serene,
Such crystal streams to course its valleys fair,
Such healthful gales to purify its air,
Such fertile soil, such ever-verdant trees,
Angels should name it 'EMERALD OF THE SEAS!'"

The seraph paused, and downward cast his eyes,
Whilst heav'nly hosts stood throbbing with surprise.
Again the Lord of all the realms above,
Supreme in might, but infinite in love,
With no harsh accent in His tones replied:
"Go, drop this Emerald in the envious tide!"

Quick as the lightning cleaves the concave blue,
The seraph seized the proffer'd gem, and flew
Until he reached the confines of the earth,
Still struggling in the throes of turbid birth;
And there, upon his self-sustaining wing,
Sat poised, and heard our globe her matins sing;
Beheld the sun traverse the arching sky,
The sister Moon walk forth in majesty;
Saw every constellation rise and roll
Athwart the heaven, or circle round the pole.
Nor did he move, until our spotted globe
Had donned for him her morn and evening robe;
Till on each land his critic eye was cast,
And every ocean rose, and heav'd, and pass'd;
Then, like some eagle pouncing on its prey,
He downward sail'd, through bellowing clouds and spray,
To where he saw the billows bounding free,
And dropped the gem within the stormy sea!

And would'st thou know, Chief of St. Patrick's band,
Where fell this jewel from the seraph's hand?
What ocean caught the world-enriching prize?
O! Child of Moina, homeward cast your eyes!
Lo! in the midst of wat'ry deserts wide,
Behold the EMERALD bursting through the tide,
And bearing on its ever vernal-sod
The monogram of seraph, and of God!

Its name, the sweetest human lips e'er sung,
First trembled on an angel's fervid tongue;
Then chimed AEolian on the evening air,
Lisped by an infant, in its mother prayer;
Next roared in war, with battle's flag u