This video features Orla-Peach Power reading Denis O’Sullivan’s ‘The Praise of Lord Bantry’s Demesne’. The poem is displayed beneath.
I.
One morning as I started being eager to travel
To view the state and grandeur of that charming lovely place
Where floras flowery mantle did the fields bespangle,
And the fragrant lily dangled along the cooling shade.
II.
I stood awhile and wondered, gazed amazed, and pondered,
Thinking it by magic so magnificently arrayed,
Until I espied Glengarriff, where resides the Lord Chief Bantry,
That noble splendid mansion so magnificently arranged.
III.
Where ladies meek and modest, mild, neat and handsome,
Lords, Dukes of honour with them do parade,
Viewing the charming valleys and gardens of Glengarriff,
In blessing the prospects of this rival seat so neat.
IV.
’Tis there you’ll see the grandest stables, best and strongest,
Trees of every fashion, fair, sublime and straight.
The elder and the laurel, the ash, the oak, the apple,
The elm, beach and holly and the hazel there so neat.
V.
’Tis there you’ll hear the linnet so equal with the spinnet,
The blackbird every minute chattering forth his lay,
The turtle dove and pigeon, the cuckoo sweetly singing, and the
little feathered tribes harmonious notes display.
And the nightingale that listens, lay sleeping in the bushes to
begin to sing Glengarriff’s praise.
VI.
You could see those curious lawns
In a circumfective manner surrounding the demesne.
Birds all singing like an organ in praise of Glengarriff,
Wishing that the Earl of Bantry and his offsprings may thrive
and forever reign.