We love May’s visit yearly,
Not for its charm alone:
We treasure it more dearly
Because ‘tis Mary’s own.

 

In the night or in the daytime
A match you’ll never find
For Ireland in the Maytime,
Serene and green and kind.

 

The lark, the poet laureate
Of the sky, sings merrily;
The thrush, the green-wood poet
Pipes from the greenwood tree.

 

“Hail, Mary!” is Ireland’s motto.
‘Tis Maytime’s grand design
To make each glen a grotto,
Each flowery slope a shrine.

 

A choir each woodland shady,
A harpist every breeze,
For the Immaculate Lady –
Creation’s Masterpiece.

 

Oh Mary! bless our sireland
Receive the prayers that start
From the firesides of Ireland,
And every Irish heart.

 

Won 5/-
Dated 1956

 

DUBLIN AND CORK
27 JAN 55