I THINK some saint of Eirinn wandering far <br />Found you and brought you here Demoiselles! <br />For so I greet you in this alien air! <br /> <br />And like those maidens who were only known <br />In their own land as daughters of the King, <br />Children of Charlemagne <br />You have, by following that pilgrim-saint, <br />Become high vot’resses <br />You have made your palace beauty dedicate, <br />And your pomp serviceable: <br />You stand beside our folds! <br /> <br />I think you came from some old Roman land <br />Most alien, but most Catholic are you: <br />Your purple is the purple that enfolds, <br />In Passion Week, the Shrine, <br />Your scarlet is the scarlet of the wounds: <br />You bring before our walls, before our doors <br />Lamps of the Sanctuary; <br />And in this stony place <br />The time the robin sings, <br />Through your bells rings the Angelus!<br /><br />Padraic Colum<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/fuchsia-hedges-in-connacht/
