Blessed is this sacred isle
with sites of great antiquity
but beloved the county royal
where High Kings ruled with equity

Blessed was the land of Fail
for its shrines of weeping waters
but hallowed are Tara’s halls
for love’s buds and Danu’s daughters

Manifold are the monuments
the bounty of spirits ancestral
for Meath’s silver raiment
shadow’s the noble Kestral

Erin has her multitudes
of stones and mounds and fields
the pious make their platitudes
on Tara’s hills – golden auras yield!

Close by that great philosopher
that wise old Goddess the Boyne
lies Tara’s Hill the Muses’ dream –
its book an erect spine

Where Eochaid spoke a salutation
and the Druids music crafted
where art and honour stabled their station
and annals and sagas drafted

Where Cormac MacArt was the patron
of the Brehon Laws sagacious
and Conn of the 100 battles run
where Clan and Royal were gracious

The matrix of Eriu’s first born
our forefathers spirit catalyst
where Lia Fail would cry and mourn
on Tara’s Hill a sparkling amethyst

Blessed is the land of Banba
for whom the bards extoll
but time’s acclaim eludes Tara
if it bleeds we’ll lose our soul!

© Roibeard McElroy 2004

photograph