The Downfall of Heathendom

This is part of the great introduction to the Festology of Aengus the
Spouse of God. The Spouses of God were an early Irish religious order,
and the author expresseswith amazing passion the self-confidence of the
early Irish Church.

Ailill the king is vanished,
  Vanished Croghan’s fort,
Kings to Clonmacnois
  Come to pay their court.

In quiet Clonmacnois
  About Saint Kieran’s feet
Everlasting quires
  Raise a concert sweet.

Allen and its lords
  Both are overthrown,
Brigid’s house is full,
  Far her fame has flown.

Navan town is shattered,
  Ruins everywhere;
Glendalough remains,
  Half a world is there.

Ferns is a blazing torch,
  Ferns is great and good,
But Beg, son of Owen,
  And his proud hosts are dead.

Old haunts of the heathen
  Filled from ancient days
Are but deserts now
  Where no pilgrim prays.

Little places taken
  First by twos and threes
Are like Rome reborn,
  Peopled sanctuaries.

Heathendom has gone down
  Though it was everywhere;
God the Father’s kingdom
  Fills heaven and earth and air.

Sing the kings defeated!
  Sing the Donals down!
Clonmacnois triumphant,
  Cronan with the crown.

All the hills of evil,
  Level now they lie;
All the quiet valleys
  Tossed up to the sky.


Source: O'Connor, Frank; Kings, Lords, & Commons: An Anthology from
the Irish; London; Macmillan & Co Ltd; 1962; p.3