', or atin', or sleepin';
An' because they loved Erin, an' scorned for to sell it,
A prey for the bloodhound, a mark for the bullet--
Unsheltered by night, and unrested by day,
With the _heath_ for their _barrack, revenge_ for their _pay_.

The bravest an' hardiest boy iv them all,
Was Shamus O'Brien, o' the town iv Glingall.
His limbs were well-set, an' his body was light,
An' the keen-fanged hound had not teeth half so white.
But his face was as pale as the face of the dead,
And his cheeks never warmed with the blush of the red;
But for all that he wasn't an ugly young bye,
For the divil himself couldn't blaze with his eye,
So droll an' so wicked, so dark and so bright,
Like a fire-flash crossing the depth of the night;
He was the best mower that ever was seen,
The handsomest hurler that ever has been.
An' his dancin' was sich that the men used to stare,
An' the women turn crazy, he done it so quare;
Be gorra, the whole world gev in to him there.

An' it's he was the boy that was hard to be caught,
An' it's often he run, an' it's often he fought,
An' it's many the one can remember right well
The quare things he done: an' it's often heerd tell
How he lathered the yeomen, himself agin' four,
An' stretched the two strongest on old Galtimore.--

But the fox _must_ sleep sometimes, the wild deer _must_ rest,
An' treachery play on the blood iv the best.--
Afther many brave actions of power and pride,
An' many a hard night on the bleak mountain's side,
An' a thousand great dangers and toils overpast,
In the darkness of night he was taken at last.

Now, Shamus, look back on the beautiful moon,
For the door of the prison must close on you soon,
An' take your last look on her dim lovely light,
That falls on the mountain and valley this night;--
One look at the village, one look at the flood,
An' one at the sheltering, far-distant wood.
Farewell to the forest, farewell to the hill,
An' farewell to the friends that will think of you still;
Farewell to the pathern, the hurlin' an' wake,
And farewell to the girl that would die for your sake.--

An' twelve sodgers brought him to Maryborough jail,
An' the turnkey resaved him, refusin' all bail;
The fleet limbs wor chained, an' the sthrong hands wor bound,
An' he laid down his length on the cowld prison ground.
An' the dreams of his ch