A Celebration 
of Women Writers

"Sláinte Na H-Éireann" by Ethna Carbery [aka Mrs. Seumus MacManus, Anna Johnston] (1866-1902)
From: The Four Winds of Eirinn: Poems by Ethna Carbery. (Anna MacManus.), Complete Edition, Edited by Seumas MacManus. Dublin, Ireland: M. H. Gill and Son, Ltd. 1906. p. 29.

Editor: Mary Mark 
Ockerbloom

[Page 129] 

SLÁINTE NA H-ÉIREANN.

O wind-drifted Branch, lift your head to the sun,
For the sap of new life in your veins hath begun,
And a little young bud of the tenderest green
Mine eyes through the snow and the sorrow have seen!

O little green bud, break and blow into flower,
Break and blow through the welcome of sunshine and shower;
'Twas a long night and dreary you hid there forlorn,
But now the cold hills wear the radiance of morn!

And there will be joy in our hearts since you bring
A whisper of Hope and a promise of Spring–
A Spring that is fairer for long waiting years,
And a Hope that is dearer because of our tears.

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Editor: Mary 
Mark Ockerbloom