Patrick Augustine Sheehan
Whole text
- p.601
- Swallows of Allah! unfurl your white wings,
Come to us, strangers, o'er the friendless sea,
Welcomed by Islam and its chivalry.
For bene of all your hallowed minist'rings.
Swallows of Allah! - Swallows of Allah! hither wing your flight
Over the barren and mysterious sea;
Where have ye nested? Whither did ye flee?
Leaving grey shadows and the winter's night.
Swallows of Allah! - Swallows of Allah! whilst ye dwelt afar
Behind the billows of the broken sea.
Your names made songs for Moslem minstrelsy
Over the long chibouque and samovar,
Swallows of Allah! p.602 - Swallows of Allah! the dusk of Arab eyes
Deepened when strained across the steel–rimmed sea
For one white feather 'gainst its ebony!
The pennant of response to prayers and sighs,
Swallows of Allah! - Swallows of Allah! bearded men have wept,
Waiting your advent from the silent sea.
Maidens have pierced the minaret's mystery.
To watch the realms of the Frankish sept,
Swallows of Allah! - Swallows of Allah! now the royal sun
Crests the high cliffs that overhang the sea;
The snows are melted, and the shadows flee,
The white flowers star the meadows one by one,
Swallows of Allah! - Swallows of Allah! bulbuls sing at night.
We hear your voices from the siren sea;
The crescent shines above the silvered lea.
And all is music in the pale moonlight,
Swallows of Allah! - Swallows of Allah from the high mosque's tower,
Waking the dreams of the too slumbrous sea,
Peals the muezzin's voice of victory, —
The advent of your mercy and your power,
Swallows of Allah! - Swallows of Allah, keep your faithful tryst,
Here by the shallows of the tideless sea,
The Moslem shall not fail in courtesy;
We have our Prophet — keep your gentle Christ,
Swallows of Allah! - Swallows of Allah! beat with buoyant wings
The slumbers of the too reluctant sea
Come to us! Come to us! lo! we cry for ye!
The largess of your woman's minist'rings.
Swallows of Allah!
Swallows of Allah 1
P. A. SHEEHAN
Document details
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Title statement
Title (uniform): Swallows of Allah
Author: Patrick Augustine Sheehan
Responsibility statement
Electronic edition compiled by: Benjamin Hazard
Funded by: School of History, University College, Cork and Private donation
Edition statement
1. First draft
Extent: 890 words
Publication statement
Publisher: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork
Address: College Road, Cork, Ireland — http://www.ucc.ie/celt
Date: 2014
Distributor: CELT online at University College, Cork, Ireland.
CELT document ID: E890000-012
Availability: Available with prior consent of the CELT programme for purposes of academic research and teaching only.
Source description
Manuscript
- [Details to follow].
Canon Sheehan on the Internet
- http://www.canonsheehanremembered.com.
Edition
- Canon P.A. Sheehan, 'Swallows of Allah,' The Irish Monthly, 26/305 (November 1898) 601–602.
- Canon P.A. Sheehan, 'Swallows of Allah,' in Cithara Mea; Poems (Boston 1900) 195–197.
Literature
- Herman Joseph Heuser, Canon Sheehan of Doneraile: the story of an Irish parish priest as told chiefly by himself in books, personal memoirs, and letters (New York 1917).
- Arthur Coussens. P. A. Sheehan, zijn leven en zijn werken (Brugge/Bruges 1923).
- Michael P. Linehan, Canon Sheehan of Doneraile: Priest, Novelist, Man of Letters (Dublin 1952).
- James O'Brien (ed.), The Collected Letters of Canon Sheehan of Doneraile, 1883–1913 (Wells 2013).
- James O'Brien, Canon Sheehan of Doneraile 1852–1913: Outlines for a Literary Biography (Wells 2013). [Bibliographical references 205-11.]
The edition used in the digital edition
‘Swallows of Allah’. In: The Irish Monthly: A Magazine of General Literature. Ed. by Matthew Russell SJ, pp. 601–602.
You can add this reference to your bibliographic database by copying or downloading the following:
@article{E890000-012,
editor = {},
title = {Swallows of Allah},
journal = {The Irish Monthly: A Magazine of General Literature},
editor = {Matthew Russell SJ},
address = {Dublin},
publisher = {Irish Jesuit Province},
date = {November 1898},
pages = {601–602}
}
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Project description: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
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The electronic text represents the edited version. An editorial footnote is included using note type="auth" n="".
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Correction: Text has been checked and proof-read once.
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Hyphenation: Soft hyphens are silently removed. When a hyphenated word (hard or soft) crosses a page-break or line-break, the page-break and line-break are marked after the completion of the hyphenated word.
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Profile description
Creation: By Patrick Augustine Sheehan (1852–1913)
Date: 1898
Language usage
- The text is in English. (en)
- One word is in Latin. (la)
- One word is in Arabic. (ar)
Keywords: poetry; 19c; religious
Revision description
(Most recent first)
- 2014-02-07: File parsed and validated; TEI Header updated, wordcount made; SGML and HTML versions created. (ed. Beatrix Färber)
- 2014-01-31: Header created; structural mark-up added; file proofed. (ed. Benjamin Hazard)
- 2014-01-24: Text scanned. (file capture Benjamin Hazard)