A star shone out o’er a land of night –
Davis o’er Eire shone –
A star of Knowledge, of Truth of Right;
The herald Star of Dawn.
With comet speed it passed away,
But it blazed a trail that showed
Through the black, black gloom of the year of doom,
The difficult narrow road.

Sweet dreams, fond thoughts to comfort us –
He left a priceless dower;
The Nation’s Poet who never dies;
Despots die by the hour.
He roused the slave from lethargy,
He set warm hearts aglow;
While tyrants laughed and traitors scoffed
At Davis, the despots’ foe.

Their Torch was he of the Gaels who marched,
With the flag of Truth unfurled.
With the love of love, in spite of spite,
To liberate their world.
Glory to Davis, the generous One,
The noble, the true, the wise;
Out of the dust of the brave and just,
Brave men and just arise.

Michael Mullin ‘The Bard of Foremass’
Foremass Lower, Sixmilecross, Co. Tyrone.
First prize (10/-)