To “Martin Ross”

(After reading “Irish Memories.”)

Two Irish cousins greet us here From BUSHE “the silver-tongued” descended, Whose lives for close on thirty year Were indistinguishably blended; Scorning the rule that holds for cooks, They pooled their brains and joined their forces, And wrote a dozen gorgeous books On men and women, hounds and horses.

They superseded Handley Cross; They glorified the “hunting fever”; They purged their pages of the dross, While bettering the fun, of LEVER; With many a priceless turn of phrase They stirred us to Homeric laughter, When painting Ireland in the days Before Sinn Fein bewitched and “strafed” her.

With them we watched good Major Yeates Contending with litigious peasants, With “hidden hands” within his gates, With claims for foxes and for pheasants; We saw Leigh Kelway drop his chin— That precious English super-tripper— In shocked amazement drinking in The lurid narrative of Slipper.

Philippa’s piercing peacock squeals, Uttered in moments of expansion; The grime and splendour of the meals Of Mrs. Knox and of her mansion; The secrets of horse-coping lore, The loves of Sally and of Flurry— All these delights and hundreds more Are not forgotten in a hurry.

Yet the same genial pens that freight Our memories with joyous magic Gave us the tale of Francie’s fate— So vulgar, lovable and tragic; Just to the land that gave them birth They showed her smiling, sad and sullen, And turning from the paths of mirth Probed the dark soul of Charlotte Mullen.

Alas! the tie, so close, so dear, Two years ago death rent asunder; Hushed is the voice so gay and clear Which moved us once to joy and wonder; Yet, though they chronicle a loss Whose pang no lapse of time assuages, The spirit of brave “MARTIN ROSS” Shines like a star throughout these pages.

Here in her letters may one trace The generous scorn, the gentle pity, The easy unaffected grace, The wisdom that was always witty; Here, mirrored in a sister soul, One sees the comrade, strong yet tender, Who marched unfaltering to her goal Through sacrifice and self-surrender.