The Project Gutenberg eBook of Some Poems of Roger Casement, by Roger Casement

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at https://www.gutenberg.org/license. If you are not located in the United States, you’ll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Some Poems of Roger Casement

Author: Roger Casement

Release Date: September 28, 2016 [EBook #53162]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Demian Katz and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University (http://digital.library.villanova.edu/))

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ***

Some Poems of

Roger Casement

ROGER CASEMENT

SOME POEMS OF

ROGER CASEMENT

DUBLIN

LONDON

The Talbot Press

T. Fisher Unwin

(LIMITED)

(LIMITED)

89 Talbot Street

1 Adelphi Terrace

1918

Printed at

THE TALBOT PRESS

89 Talbot Street

Dublin

Contents

Page

Introduction

ix

"The Heart's Verdict"

1

"Mio Salvatore"

2

"Love's Horizon"

3

"Love's Cares"

4

The Peak of the Cameroons—I.

5

The Peak of the Cameroons—II.

6

Hamilcar Barca

7

Verses sent from the Congo Free State in response to Mr. Harrison's appeal for the restoration of the Elgin Marbles to Greece

8

Lost Youth

9

The Streets of Catania

10

The Irish Language

12

Parnell

14

Benburb

15

Oliver Cromwell

21

The Triumph of Hugh O'Neill

22

Translation from Victor Hugo's "Feuilles d'Automne"

25

Introduction

In giving these few poems of Roger Casement to the Irish people I do not claim for them any special value as Irish literature. Roger Casement was not a poet, he would have been the last to lay claim to any such title, but, like the greater part of his fellow-countrymen, he felt from time to time the impulse to express some particular thought in verse, and he used to jot down, sometimes in a letter to a friend, sometimes on an odd half sheet of paper, the thought clothed in a poetic form just as it came into his mind.

His was a nature of peculiar delicacy and refinement and of singular simplicity; he had but one passion, Ireland, but one deep sympathy—compassion for the helpless and oppressed.

Even as a little boy he turned with horror and revulsion from cruelty of every description: he would tenderly nurse a wounded bird to life, and stop to pity an overloaded horse. This gentleness and tender-heartedness was one of his most marked characteristics; it led him to champion the cause of the Congo native and the Putumayo Indian, and to spend his slender means in later life in trying to relieve the wretched fever-stricken inhabitants in Connemara when typhus was raging among them, or to provide a mid-day meal for children in the Gaeltacht, who after walking perhaps for miles to school, through storm and rain, would have gone hungry all day if his kindly heart had not pitied them. When he was stricken with misfortune, it was these same children whose touching letters to him and whose words of consolation, with their prayers, brought tears to his eyes.

The act which brought him to his death was the result of long years of brooding over Ireland and her destiny; it was not a sudden and new impulse as some have endeavoured to prove. To say that his interest in Ireland began with his retirement from the service of the British Foreign Office is to misrepresent the facts entirely. Roger Casement from his earliest days was before everything else a lover of Ireland. In his school days he begged from the aunt, with whom he spent his holidays, for possession of an attic room which he turned into a little study, and the writer remembers the walls papered with cartoons cut out of the Weekly Freeman, showing the various Irish Nationalists who had suffered imprisonment at English hands for the sake of their belief in Ireland a Nation. Many years later, when he himself was a prisoner in an English gaol he wrote: "I have felt this destiny on me since I was a little boy; it was inevitable; everything in my life has led up to it." He seemed in a curious way to have a foreboding of his fate. Once, years before his retirement, he was joking with a friend about some wonderful plan that was conceived in a mood of playfulness, and the carrying out of which would have involved considerable danger. The friend pointed out that the disadvantage of it all lay in the fact that they might accidentally kill someone, and "then," she added, "we'd be hanged." Roger Casement was silent for a moment, his deepset eyes fixed on an invisible goal, and then he said very quietly, "I think I shall be hanged for Ireland." A friend tells me that later he made a similar observation to a man who spoke of old rebellions and the fate of their leaders, "I shall be hanged, too, for leading an attack on Dublin Castle."

An incident is told of his life in South Africa, about the time of the Boer War. He was one day, with two companions on the verandah of a hotel, when a lady who had been observing them from a distance for some time approached them. She excused herself for addressing strangers and explained that she had felt compelled to do so as they had interested her profoundly. Explaining that she had the gift of second-sight, she asked permission to tell their fortunes, to which they consented, looking upon the matter as a joke. Having told the fortunes of the lady and of the second companion, she turned at last to Roger Casement, and stated that his was the most interesting fate. She described his adventurous life in broad outline, and then said, "You must take care: at the age of 52 you will come to a violent end." Roger Casement was within a month of his fifty-second birthday when he died.

There was a curious remoteness about him at times. He used to sit for long periods silent in a reverie, and would awaken from it with a sudden start. In his habits he was always simple and frugal; he rose very early in the morning and was always at work before breakfast; he cared nothing for society in the worldly sense, but he loved his friends and was always and invariably happy in the company of children of all ages and classes. Once the writer was walking with him through the streets of an old country town when a tired woman after a shopping expedition was vainly urging an equally tired, and, I am bound to say, naughty little boy to "come on." When at last in exasperation she called out, "Very well, I'll go home without you," the culprit set up an ear-piercing yell and flung himself down on the ground. Roger turned round at once, to hasten back. "Ah! poor soul," he said, "his heart is broken, God help him; I'll pick him up."

Small children always adored him. The tiny three-year-old child of a charwoman working in the house where he was staying used to creep in from the kitchen, and try to catch his eye as he sat writing. He always had a smile and caress for her, and one day her mother found her trying with both hands to turn the handle of the study door and scolded her. She hung her head and said, "I wanted to see the gentleman with the kind eyes."

Many a little beggar child in Dublin knew the smile in those kind eyes, and they used to greet him with smiles in return and always get their copper or two. We used to tease him, and say he walked through the streets of Dublin "buying smiles at a penny each." I do not think any Irish man, woman, or child ever appealed to him for sympathy and help that he did not give.

On a motor tour through Donegal with some friends he met an old woman whose son and his wife had died and left to her care a family of small children. They looked poor and hungry, and the old woman found it hard to make her little farm support them all. "Wouldn't they be better for some milk?" asked Roger, seeing them make a scanty meal, with water to drink. "Indeed they would if I could be getting it for them," said the grandmother. Roger made no answer, but at the next market town he bought a cow and had it sent out to the old lady.

It was in Ireland he always felt at home; he hated big cities, noise, music-halls, and restaurants. He wrote from London on one visit, "I feel more and more of a foreigner here"; but in the Irish country, with the simple country folk, he was always content. One of the happiest experiences of his life in later years was a short visit he paid to Tory Island in 1912, when he organised a Ceilidh, to which everyone on the island was invited. He sat in the crowded schoolroom, watching the boys and girls dancing their reels and jigs, and listening to the Gaelic songs till far on into the night, when the Ceilidh broke up. He loved the Tory people and used to plan many times to go back and visit them. Tory has a sort of fascination about it, it looks so remote and unreal, "like an opal jewel in a pale blue sea," he described it once in a letter.

During all the time of his varied experiences abroad in Africa and South America, his mind turned always with longing and affection to Ireland. He looked upon himself as an Irishman before all things. He eagerly watched for the rare arrival of mails bringing word of Ireland and her doings. "Send me news of Ireland," he wrote from South America, "and also what the papers say about the Congo, but chiefly Ireland; Ireland first, last, and for ever."

Although not a rich man (he had no private means) he contributed generously to all Irish schemes for furthering the National life. He helped several of the Gaelic Colleges, gave prizes in schools for the study of Irish, and did his best to help along many of those newspapers and periodicals which were founded by young and hopeful Irishmen to expound their views and which alas! so often came to an untimely end.

With his singularly generous nature money mattered nothing at all to him save for the use he could make of it to help the work he had at heart. He spent little upon himself, in fact he denied himself all luxuries, and even comforts, that he might have to give to Irish causes or to the Irish poor. Those who said of him that he sold himself for money knew nothing of the man they were slandering. He was wholly indifferent to money for its own sake. His scrupulous integrity as to public funds was illustrated by the following:—When he was called to give evidence before a certain commission, as he was waiting his turn with others who had to travel to London for the same purpose, one of the secretaries remarked to a witness, "Do you see that man?" (pointing to Roger Casement), "Well, all the rest have charged first-class railway fares, but he has put down third."

He wrote much on the Irish question. Letters from his pen appeared in many Irish newspapers, and not a few English ones, and his essays, which will, it is hoped, be published later, show not only a deep insight but much literary skill. His speech from the dock was described by a leading English literary man as an effort "worthy of the finest examples of antiquity."

At the age of 52 he came to a violent end.... So have many others who died for Ireland; he stands among his peers, the Irish martyrs. He would not have chosen to die otherwise, the love of his life was Kathleen ni Houlihan; when he thought he heard her voice calling from her four green fields he had no choice but to obey, though he knew it led to death; but death which comes in such a form to the body leaves the spirit but freer to carry on its purpose.

The men of 1916 are not dead in any real sense, for

"They shall be remembered for ever,

They shall be alive for ever,

They shall be speaking for ever,

The people shall hear them for ever."

GERTRUDE PARRY.

SOME POEMS OF ROGER CASEMENT

"The Heart's Verdict"

Oh! hearts that meet, and hearts that part!

The world is full of sorrow:

Men love and die—th' almighty mart

Puts up new hearts to-morrow.

Was this Creation's scheme at start?

Oh! then I little wonder

That Lucifer's proud human heart

Preferred to God His thunder.

"Mio Salvatore"

"Were I a king, my crown of gold

I should not for a moment hold,

Did not thy brow its glory share,

Were thou not ever next my chair.

"Were I a God, my heaven would be

One long, lone, vast sterility,

Eternal only in its woe

Did thou not all its purpose know.

"Were I a saint, my midnight cell

Would be the portico of hell,

Did not my scourging heart attest

Thy love dwells in a stricken breast."

"Love's Horizon"

Love is the salt sea's savour,

Love is the palm-tree's sheen,

Love is the sky of evening.

That softly sets between.

Love is the ocean's purple,

Love is the mountain's crest,

Love is the golden Eagle

That hither builds his nest.

The wind that lists at morning.

The first song of the bird,

The leaves that stir so lightly

Before a limb has stirred:

These are my love's harbingers

By gathering music drawn.

Oh! wake my love and own them,

Thou life voice of the Dawn.

"Love's Cares"

Oh! what cares Love for a sunburnt skin?

Love laughs and sighs for it all the same;

Love seeks a blush that is far within

From the glow of his asking eyes that came—

Oh! what cares Love for untidy hair?

He sleeps where never a comb has passed,

And holds his breath in the tiny snare

Of a curl his kiss shall undo at last—

Oh! what cares Love for a tender heart?

His eyes are filled to their glorious brim;

On tears, on tears from a shining start

Love bears it gently away with him.

Oh! what cares Love for a wounded breast?

Love shows his own with a broader scar:

'Tis only those who have loved the best

Can say where the wounds of loving are.

The Peak of the Cameroons

I.

The Heavens rest upon thee that the eye

Of man may not, for when thou sittest hid

In thunderstorm of lofty pyramid

Of thwarting sea-cloud whitening up the sky,

Then are the clouds set on thee to forbid

[A]That man should share the mystery of Sinai;

Then are thy ashen cones again bestrid

By living fire—impenetrably nigh.

For thus, by the Dualla, art thou seen,

Home of a God they know, yet would not know;

But I, who far above their doubts have been

Upon thy forehead hazardous, may grow

To fuller knowledge, rooted sure and slow

Where lava slid—like pines Enceladine.

[A] To this line there is a note:—"This line is inadmissible in a sonnet."

II.

And I have seen thee in the West's red setting

Stand like some Monarch in a crimson field,

With fleeing clouds empurpling as they yield.

And sunset still the glorious sham abetting.

While high above thy purple forest's fretting

Thy mighty chest in tranquil gold concealed,

And on thy brows of the dead days begetting

A light that comes from higher things revealed.

So shows there in a passing soul's transgression

A light of hope beyond these prison bars

Divinely rendered, that, when doubting mars

Our day's decline, we still may find progression

Of light to light, as day with silent cession

Makes o'er to night—articulate with stars.

Hamilcar Barca

Thou that didst mark from Heircte's spacious hill

The Roman spears, like mist, uprise each morn,

Yet held, with Hesper's shining point of scorn,

Thy sword unsheathed above Panormus still;

Thou that were leagued with nought but thine own will,

Eurythmic vastness to that stronghold torn

From foes above, below, where, though forlorn,

Thou still hadst claws to cling, and beak to kill—

Eagle of Eryx!—When the Ægation shoal

Rolled westward all the hopes that Hanno wrecked

With mighty wing, unwearying, didst thou

Seek far beyond the wolf's grim protocol,

Within the Iberian sunset faintly specked

A rock where Punic faith should bide its vow.

Verses

(Sent from the Congo Free State in response to Mr. Harrison's appeal for the Restoration of the Elgin Marbles to Greece.)

Give back the Elgin marbles; let them lie

Unsullied, pure beneath an Attic sky.

The smoky fingers of our northern clime

More ruin work than all the ancient time.

How oft the roar of the Piraen sea

Through column'd hall and dusky temple stealing

Hath struck these marble ears, that now must flee

The whirling hum of London, noonward reeling.

Ah! let them hear again the sounds that float

Around Athene's shrine on morning's breeze,—

The lowing ox, the bell of climbing goat

And drowsy drone of far Hymettus' bees.

Give back the marbles; let them vigil keep

Where art still lies, o'er Pheidias' tomb, asleep.

Lukunga Valley,

Cataract Region of the Lower Congo.

Lost Youth

(Written on receiving a letter from a friend, T. H., who had spent the best years of his life as a missionary in Central Africa, in which he speaks of "the glorious superfluity of strength and spirits one remembers as a lad, but alas! only remembers.")

Weep not that you no longer feel the tide

High breasting sun and storm, that bore along

Your youth on currents of perpetual song:

For in these mid-stream waters, still and wide,

A sleepless purpose the great deep doth hide;

Here spring the mighty fountains pure and strong,

That bear sweet change of breath to city throng,

Who, had the sea no breeze, would soon have died.

So though the sun shines not in such a blue,

Nor have the stars the meaning youth deviced,

The heavens are nigher, and a light shines through

The brightness that nor sun nor stars sufficed;

And on this lonely waste we find it true

Lost youth and love, not lost, are hid with Christ.

The Streets of Catania

(The streets of Catania are paved with blocks of the lava of Aetna.)

All that was beautiful and just,

All that was pure and sad

Went in one little, moving plot of dust

The world called bad.

Came like a highwayman, and went,

One who was bold and gay,

Left when his lightly loving mood was spent

Thy heart to pay.

By-word of little streets and men,

Narrower theirs the shame,

Tread thou the lava loving leaves, and then

Turn whence it came.

Aetna, all wonderful, whose heart

Glows as thine throbbing glows,

Almond and citron bloom quivering at start,

Ends in pure snows.

The Irish Language

It is gone from the hill and the glen—

The strong speech of our sires;

It is sunk in the mire and the fen

Of our nameless desires:

We have bartered the speech of the Gael

For a tongue that would pay,

And we stand with the lips of us pale

And all bloodless to-day;

We have bartered the birthright of men

That our sons should be liars.

It is gone from the hill and the glen,

The strong speech of our sires.

Like the flicker of gold on the whin

That the Spring breath unites,

It is deep in our hearts, and shall win

Into flame where it smites:

It is there with the blood in our veins,

With the stream in the glen,

With the hill and the heath and the weans

They shall think it again;

It shall surge to their lips and shall win

The high road to our rights—

Like the flicker of gold on the whin

That the sun-burst unites.

Parnell

(October 6th, 1891.)

Hush—let no whisper of the cruel strife,

Wherein he fell so bravely fighting, fall

Nigh these dead ears; fain would our hearts recall

Nought but proud memories of a noble life—

Of unmatched skill to lead by pathways rife

With danger and dark doubt, where slander's knife

Gleamed ever bare to wound, yet over all

He pressed triumphant on—lo, thus to fall.

Through and beyond the breach he living made

Shall Erin pass to freedom and to will,

And shape her fate: there where his limbs are laid

No harsh reproach dare penetrate the shade;

Death's angel guards the door, and o'er the sill

A mightier voice than Death's speaks "Peace, be still!"

Benburb

Since treason triumphed when O'Neill was forced to foreign flight,

The ancient people felt the heel of Scotch usurper's might;

The barren hills of Ulster held a race proscribed and banned

Who from their lofty refuge viewed their own so fertile land.

Their churches in the sunny vales; the homes that once were theirs,

Torn from them and their Faith to feed some canting minion's prayers:

Oh Lord! from many a cloudy hill then streamed our prayers to Thee,

And like the dawn on summer hills, that only watchers see,

Thy glorious hope shone on us long before the sleeping foe

Knew that their doom had broken on the sword of Owen Roe.

'Twas dawn of fair June morning, while Blackwater still drew grey,

His valley'd mists about him that we saw at Killylea,

The Scottish colours waving as they headed to the ford

Where never foemen waded yet, but paid it with the sword;

And fair it was to see them in the golden morning light,

Climb up the hill by Caledon and turn them to the right;

As they neared Yellow Ford, where Bagnall met O'Neill,

Joy gathered in our throats and broke above their cannons' peal,

And oh! a thrill went through our ranks, as straining towards the foe,

Like hounds in leash we panted for the word of Owen Roe.

Not yet—altho' O'Ferrall's horse come riding in amain;

Not yet—altho' fierce Cunningham pursues with slackened rein;

Not yet—altho' in skirmish and in many a scattered fight

We hold them—still with waiting eye, O'Neill smiles in despite;

Till slanting on our backs the sun full on their faces fell.

Then blinding axe and battle spear rose with a sudden swell

"For God, and Church, and Country now—upon them every man;

But hold your strength until ye see them scarce a pike-length's span;

The Red Hand, ever uppermost, strike home your strongest blow";

And with a yell our feet outsped the words of Owen Roe.

Like heaving lift of yellow wave that drags the sandy shore

On with it to its foaming fall, our rushing pikemen bore

Horse, foot, and gun, and falling flags, like streamers of red wrack,

Torn from their dripping hold, in one broad swell of carnage back;

Stout Blayney's gallant horse withstood that seething tide in vain;

It bore them down, and redder raced with life-blood of the slain;

One regiment only fought its way from out that ghastly fight,

And Conway slew two horses on the Newry road that night;

While Monroe fled so fast he left both hat and wig to show

How full the breeze that lifted up the flag of Owen Roe.

Ho! Ironsides of Cromwell, ye've got grimmer work to do,

Than when on Naseby's ruddy morn your ready swords ye drew—

Than when your headlong charges routed Rupert's tried and best,

Ere yet the glare of battle fainted in the loyal West.

Those swords must break a stouter foe ere ye break Erin's weal

Or stamp your bloody title-deeds with Cromwell's bloodier seal;

The dead men of Elizabeth's red reign for comrades call,

The Scots we sent to-day have need of ye to bear their pall;

There's room for undertakers still, and none will say ye no

To such fair holdings—measured by the sword of Owen Roe.

Ho! ring your bells, Kilkenny town; ho! Dublin burghers pass

In open day, with open brow, to celebrate the Mass.

The Sword of State that Tudor hate laid sore on Church of God,

Hath fallen here with shattered hilt and vain point in the sod.

Ho! holy Rinnuncini, and ye high lords of the Pale

Lay by your sheets of parchment, and put on your sheeted mail,

For God hath spoke in battle, and His face the foe is toward,

And ye must hold by valour what He hath freed by sword.

Yea, God in fight hath spoken, and thro' cloud hath bent His brow

In wrath upon the routed—but in hope o'er Owen Roe.

Oliver Cromwell

1650-1659

(Addressed to the Liberal Members who "went back" on their previous vote and rejected the grant for his statue.)

"Tear out the page his hand hath writ in blood."

Aye! tho' a decade filled with mighty deeds

That page records; what though in it the seeds

Of greater freedom sprung, than ever stood

On any shore, to shadow freedom's brood.

The lordly oak from which a fleet proceeds

May fall unhonoured; can mere party needs

Fill your hands too, with this consenting mud?

We Irishmen found only shade to die

Within the shadow of that mighty tree;

But you base Englishmen it bore on high,

And girt your commerce safe on many a sea:

O! may the people Cromwell taught, deny

Your right within these walls, and turn the key!

The Triumph of Hugh O'Neill

Beal an Altra Buidhe (The Fight of the Yellow Ford, 1598.)

Speed the joyful news of victory from Dungannon to Gweedore,

Let the shout of triumph echo 'mid the cliffs of dark Benmore,

Let the flame that gleams on Sperrin light a flame on every strand,

Till one mighty blaze shall tell it to all men throughout the land.

The haughty Saxon boasted he would ravage broad Tyrone,

And lay our fields in ashes, and make our flocks his own,

Nor hold his hand 'till humbled each Irish kerne should kneel

To England's monarch only, and not to Hugh O'Neill.

But vain was all his boasting, and vain was all he swore,

For, like the storms of winter when from the hills they pour,

With clouds of long-haired spearmen, and ranks of flashing steel,

O'er the broken host of Saxons swept the children of O'Neill.

Arquebus and gun were fired, yet were fired all in vain,

For their owners' heads were cloven by the lightening sweeping skean,

But the sturdy English yeomen, who had ne'er been known to reel,

Like the withered leaves of autumn, fell before the fierce O'Neill.

Blackwater's tide ran darker than e'er it ran before,

The "Yellow Ford" was crimsoned, the fields were drenched with gore.

The Saxon host had vanished; and Armagh rang out a peal

Of triumph o'er the vanquished, and of welcome to O'Neill.

No more the feet of foemen shall taint our Northern soil,

No more the waving cornfields shall be the Saxon's spoil.

Our flag no longer drooping, each fold shall now reveal,

And wave for God and Erin and our darling Hugh O'Neill.

Translation from Victor Hugo's "Feuilles d'Automne"

"I hate oppression with a hate profound,

And wheresoever in the wide world round,

Beneath a traitor king, a cruel sky,

I hear appeal a strangled people's cry—

Where mother Greece, by Christian kings betrayed

To butcher Turks, hangs disembowelled, flayed.

Where Ireland, bleeding on her Cross expires,

And German truth in vain fronts royal liars.

"Oh then, upon their heads my curse I launch,

These kings whose steeds pace bloody to the paunch:

I feel the poet speaks their judgment, and

The indignant Muse, with unrelenting hand,

Shall bind them pilloried to their thrones of shame,

And press their dastard crowns to shape a name

That on their brows the poet's hand shall trace—

So Man may read their calling in their face."

New Plays and Poems.

PLAYS OF GODS & MEN. Containing "The Laughter of the Gods," "The Queen's Enemies," "The Tents of the Arabs" and "A Night at an Inn." By Lord Dunsany. Crown 8vo, 3/6 net.

A NEW PLAY BY EDWARD MARTYN.

THE DREAM PHYSICIAN. A Play in three acts. Cloth, 2/- net.

OTHER PLAYS BY EDWARD MARTYN.

MAEVE. A psychological Play in two acts. Cloth, 2/- net.

THE HEATHER FIELD. A Play in three acts. Cloth, 2/- net.

These Plays, first issued in one volume in 1899, are now reissued in popular form.

AN IRISH PLAY BY A NEW DRAMATIST.

THE KINGDOM-MAKER. A Play in five acts. By Seosamh O'Neill. Cloth, 2/- net.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "BIRTHRIGHT."

SPRING, AND OTHER PLAYS. Including "The Briery Gap," and "Sovereign Love." By T. C. Murray. Cloth, 2/6 net.

A POET OF THE INSURRECTION.

THE POEMS OF JOHN FRANCIS MacENTEE. Imperial 16mo. cloth 2/6.

A NEW VOLUME BY PADRIC GREGORY.

IRELAND: A SONG OF HOPE, and other Poems and Ballads. Cr. 8vo, cloth, 2/6 net.

ROADSIDE FANCIES. Verses by H. C. Huggins. Paper cover, 1/- net.

DUBLIN: THE TALBOT PRESS, LIMITED.

LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN, LIMITED.

Transcriber's Notes:

Images may be clicked to view larger versions.

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works

1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the United States and you are located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it without charge with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg™ License.

1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website (www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works provided that:

• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.”

• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ works.

• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of receipt of the work.

• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any Defect you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™

Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.

Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.

The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate

Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works

Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.

Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.

Most people start at our website which has the main PG search facility: www.gutenberg.org.

This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.

Table of Contents

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Some Poems of Roger Casement, by Roger Casement

Some Poems of Roger Casement

SOME POEMS OF ROGER CASEMENT

Contents

Introduction

Some Poems of Roger Casement

"The Heart's Verdict"

"Mio Salvatore"

"Love's Horizon"

"Love's Cares"

The Peak of the Cameroons

I.

II.

Hamilcar Barca

Verses

Lost Youth

The Streets of Catania

The Irish Language

Parnell

Benburb

Oliver Cromwell

1650-1659

The Triumph of Hugh O'Neill

Translation from Victor Hugo's "Feuilles d'Automne"

New Plays and Poems.

Transcriber's Notes:

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE