Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922.

By

1001. Dedicatory Poem

Two men of art, they say, were with the sons

Of Milé,—a poet and a harp player,

When Milé, having taken Ireland, left

The land to his sons’ rule; the poet was

Cir, and fair Cendfind was the harp player.

The sons of Milé for the kingship fought—

(Blithely, with merry sounds, the old poem says)

Eber and Eremon, the sons of Milé

And when division of the land was made

They drew a lot for the two men of art.

With Eber who had won the Northern half

The Harper Cendfind went, and with Eremon

The Northerner, Cir the poet stayed;

And so, the old Book of the Conquests says,

The South has music and the North has lore.

To you who are both of the North and South,

To you who have the music and the lore,

To you in whom Cir and Cendfind are met,

To you I bring the tale of poetry

Left by the sons of Eber and of Eremon.

A leabhráin, gabh amach fá’n saoghal,

Is do gach n-aon dá mbuaileann leat

Aithris cruinn go maireann Gaedhil,

T’réis cleasa claon nan Gall ar fad.