Rossa's Recollections, 1838 to 1898 / Childhood, boyhood, manhood; customs, habits and manners of the Irish people; Erinach and Sassenach; Catholic and protestant; Englishman and Irishman; English religion; Irish plunder; social life and prison life; the Fenian movement; Travels in Ireland, England, Scotland and America

by Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa

Well, you know I left Cork on the evening of Sunday;

I got to Killarney the following Monday;

I traveled to view the legendary places

Till Thursday came on—the first day of the Races;

Amusements were there for the simple and grand,

But I saw that which grieved me—the wealth of the land

Was, in chief, represented by many a knight,

Who was sworn on oath, for the Saxon to fight,

And to drive all his enemies into confusion,

But I thought in my heart they were cowards, while the “Rooshian”