Poem by William Allingham

To the Castle of Donegal

CASTLE of Donegal! both green and gray,
Like an old poet; where thine outworks lay
A sessions-house, and barracks for police
Lie in thy shadow. If from ivied peace
We could recall thee, and revive to-day
The men whom thy crazed walls, their children, cease
Almost to recollect, how we and they
Would wonder! How their wonder would increase
When by their antique customs they were driven
(As soon would happen to those chiefs of yore)
To feel our unromantic forms of power,
Police and statute law. Therefore, still riven
And roofless be thou; strength is law no more;
The times that suited thee are gone, thank Heaven!

1. Wayconnell Tower
2. The Emigrant’s Adieu to Ballyshannon
3. A Burial-place
4. In Highgate Cemetery
5. To the Author of 'Hesperides'

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