The Emigrant's Voyage

Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

The Emigrant's Voyage

Evening

Thomas Irwin

The white sails are filled, and the wind from the shore

Blows sad from the hills we shall visit no more;

And our ship slowly moves o'er the ocean at rest,

From the land of our hearts, in the light of the West.

Though few are the friends on the land's sinking rim,

Yet our eyes, straining into the sunset, grow dim;

We are leaving forever the walks where we strayed,

And the graves where the dust of our dearest is laid.

Now twilight has covered the isle in its gloom;

Dark the village, and lost the old places of the tomb;

And we see but yon dusk mountain line in the light,

We have watched from our cottage doors many a night.

Ah! The stars on the ocean are glimmering nigh,

Like the eyes of the dead looking up at the sky;

And our ship speeds along, as heart-wearied we sleep,

'Mid the waters of God and the clouds of the deep.

Alfred M. Williams, The Poets and Poetry of Ireland: With Historical and Critical Essays and Notes (Boston: James R. Osgood, 1881), 367.

Thomas Irwin

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