"THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN"

(1890)

Oh, wanst I was a tinant, an' I wisht I was one stilt,
With my cow an' pig an' praties, an' my cabin on the hill!
'Twas plinty then I had to drink an' plinty too to ate,
And the childer had employment on the Ponsonby estate.

It was in Tipperary town, as down the street I went,
I met with Mr Blarnigan, that sits in Parliament:
'Tis he that has the eloquence! An' "Pay no rint," says he,
"For that's the way you'll get your land, an' set the country free."

I'd paid my rint--sure, 'twas rejuiced--before the rows began,
An' the agent that was in it was a dacent kind of man;
But parties kem by moonlight now, and tould me I must not,
And if I paid it any more they'd surely have me shot.

The agent said he'd take the half of all the rint I owed,
Because he'd be unwilling for to put me on the road:
I said, "I thank your honour, and in glory may you be!
But that is not the way," says I, "to set ould Ireland free."

They kem an' put me out of that, and left me there forlorn,
Beside the empty ruins of the house where I was born: