Thomas Moore: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Sublime was the warning which Liberty spoke

Thomas Moore

“Sublime was the warning which Liberty spoke” as printed in Irish Melodies (1821).

Thomas Moore: Collected Lyrics Text 20 1821 · historical text
Public domainIrish songRomantic ballad
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from Irish Melodies, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

Sublime was the warning which Liberty spoke,

And grand was the moment when Spaniards awoke

Into life and revenge from the conqueror's chain!

Oh Liberty! let not this spirit have rest,

Till it move, like a breeze, o'er the waves of the west—

Give the light of your look to each sorrowing spot,

Nor oh ! be the Shamrock of Erin forgot,

While you add to your garland the Olive of Spain!

Verse 2

If the fame of our fathers, bequeathed with their rights,

Give to country its charm, and to home its delights,

If deceit be a wound and suspicion a stain;

Then, ye men of Iberia! our cause is the same,

And oh! may his tomb want a tear and a name,

Who would ask for a nobler, a holier death,

Than to turn his last sigh into victory's breath

For the Shamrock of Erin, and Olive of Spain!

Verse 3

Ye Blakes and O'Donnels, whose fathers resign'd

The green hills of their youth, among strangers to find

That repose which, at home, they had sigh'd for in vain,

Join, join in our hope that the flame, which you light,

May be felt yet in Erin, as calm, and as bright,

And forgive even Albion, while blushing she draws,

Like a truant, her sword, in the long-slighted cause

Of the Shamrock of Erin, and Olive of Spain!

Verse 4

God prosper the cause!—oh! it cannot but thrive,

While the pulse of one patriot heart is alive,

Its devotion to feel, and its rights to maintain;

Then, how sainted by sorrow its martyrs will die!

The finger of Glory shall point where they lie,

While, far from the foot-step of coward or slave,

The young Spirit of Freedom shall shelter their grave

Beneath Shamrocks of Erin and Olives of Spain.

Credits

Written by Thomas Moore

Words by Thomas Moore (died 1852). Historical text published in Irish Melodies (1821); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

Irish Melodies (1821), “Sublime was the warning which Liberty spoke”

Every lyric in this collection was written by Thomas Moore (1779-1852) and first published between 1808 and 1821 (music arranged by John Stevenson, 1761-1833); both contributors died more than 170 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide, and the edition carries a pre-1931 United States public-domain tag. The credited author died in 1852.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

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Retrieved 2026-10-24. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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