LINES TO THE MEMORY OF SARAH MCKIVOR
DUNNYGARRON

Evening shadows were around us,
Soon the day was lost to sight;
Still our sense of duty found us
Watching in the fading light.

Watching by the bed of sickness,
Where a loved one lay in pain;
While ‘midst grief of awful thickness
Built we hopes of health again.

But, alas! our hopes have vanished,
Death has filled the empty tomb;
Summer warmth from us is banished,
Scarce a ray to guild the gloom.

Our faith in God would not be shaken,
We use not one impious word;
But, Oh! ‘tis hard when worth is taken,
While villains live to curse the Lord.

Yea, live, although devoid of feeling;
They, slanderous words ‘gainst virtue use,
Their breath while at the altar kneeling,
Its hallowed precints doth abuse.

Nature in the fields may cheer us,
The skylarks theme may lead us on;
But our loss will aye be near us,
Still we’ll think of her that’s gone.

Never can her image perish
From the hearts her truth did cheer;
Long shall we her memory cherish,
As we pass from year to year.

Then let us at her grave take warning,
While o’er our heads we see the rod,
Should we be summoned night or morning,
To be prepared to meet our God.

Thomas Given, Markstown, 2rd January 1881