SEARC'S WEB GUIDE - John Boyle O'Reily (1844-1890)

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19th Century Ireland - John Boyle O'Reily (1844-1890)

John Boyle O'Reily was born in Dowth, County Meath. He joined the Fenian movement in the 1860's and enlisted in the British Army to organise Fenian cells therein. In 1866 O'Reily was court-martialed on a charge of Treason-Felony and sentenced to death but this was commuted to penal servitude and transportation to Australia. In 1869 O'Reily escaped from prison and went to America from where, in 1875, he and John Devoy devised the escape of six Fenian prisoners from Freemantle, Australia.
In 1879 O'Reily published a novel about his experiences in an Australian penal colony entitled Moondyne. O'Reily's poem The Exile of the Gael was composed as a dialogue between Erin/Ireland and Columbia/America, the native and adopted 'Mother' lands of the Irish race.©

John Boyle O'Reily
(1844-1890)

The Exile of the Gael
"No treason we bring from Erin - nor bring we shame or guilt!
The sword we hold may be broken, but we have not dropped the hilt!
The wreath we bear to Columbia is twisted of thorns, not bays:
And the songs we sing are saddened by thoughts of desolate days.
But the hearts we bring for freedom are washed in the surge of tears:
And we claim our right by a people's fight outliving a thousand years!"

"What bring ye else to the building?"

"Oh, willing hands to toil:
Strong natures turned to harvest-song, and bound to the kindly soil;
Bold pioneers for the wilderness, defenders in the field -
The sons of a race of soldiers who never learned to yield.
Young hearts with duty brimming - as faith makes sweet the due:
Their truth to me their witness they cannot be false to you!"

"It is well, ay well, old Erin! The sons you give to me
Are symbolled long in flag and song - your sunburst on the sea!
All mine by the chrism of Freedom, still yours by their love's belief:
And truest to me shall the tenderest be in a suffering mother's grief.
Their loss is the change of the wave to the cloud, of the dew to the river and main:
Their hope shall persist through the sea and the mist, and thy streams shall be filled again.
As the smolt of the salmon go down to the sea, and as surely come back to the river.
Their love shall be yours while your sorrow endures, for Godguardeth his right for ever!"

© Searc's Web Guide 1997-2007

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