Some on the pleasant hillside have thought they saw thee pass, <br />As flings a cloud before the sun a shadow on the grass. <br />They praised thy fairness and held dear thy meekness and thy grace; <br />They only saw thy shade, Kathleen, they did not see thy face. <br />Some on the purple mountains stood to see thee speeding by, <br />As glides a sudden golden shaft across a stormy sky; <br />And these were braggarts of their love within thy dwelling-place; <br />They saw thy beauty, Rosin Dubh, they did not see thy face. <br /> <br />But some in flames of battle strove their slender weight to throw <br />Against the bayonet and the gun that hid thy only foe; <br />They left for thee their earthly loves, these heroes of thy race, <br />And died, as all must die, Kathleen, who once have seen thy face. <br />So must thy grief be ever new who holds a love like this, <br />That thrusts away a dear one's heart, a little child's soft kiss, <br />That leaves behind an honoured home, a Mother's fond embrace, <br />Till others seek again, Kathleen, to see thy hidden face.<br /><br />Dora Sigerson Shorter<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/they-did-not-see-thy-face/
