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The Green Linnet 
The Green Linnet 
Curiosity bore a young native of Erin To view the gay banks of the Rhine There an empress he saw and the robes she was wearing All over with diamonds did shine A goddess in splendor was never yet seen To equal this fair one so mild and serene In soft murmur she says my linnet so green Are you gone will I never see you more 
The cold lofty Alps you freely went over Which nature had placed in your way That Marengo Saloney around you did hover And Paris rejoiced the next day It grieves me the hardships you did undergo The mountains you travelled all covered with snow The balance of power your courage laid low You are gone I will never see you more The crowned heads of Europe when you were in splendor Fain they would have had you submit But the goddess of freedom soon bid them surrender And lower the standard to your wit Old Frederick's colors to France you did bring Yet his offspring found shelter under your wing That year in Virginia you sweetly did sing Are you gone will I never see you more 
The numbers of men that were eager to slay you Their malice you viewed with a smile Their gold through all Europe they sowed to betray you And they joined the Mamelukes on the Nile Like ravens for blood their vile passions did burn The orphans they slew and caused widows to mourn They say my linnet's gone and n'er will return He is gone will I never see him more 
When the trumpet of war the grand blast was sounding You marched to the north with good will To relieve the poor slaves in their vile sack clothing You used your exertion and skill You spread out the wings of your envied train When tyrants great Caesar's old nest set in flames 
Their own subjects they caused to eat herbs on the plains Are you gone will I never see you more 
In great Waterloo where numbers laid sprawling In every field high or low Fame on her trumpets the Frenchmen were calling Fresh laurels to place on her brow Usurpers did tremble to hear that loud call The third babe's fine new buildings did fall! The Spaniards their fleet in the harbor did call Are you gone will I never see you more 
I'll roam the deserts of wild Abyssinia And yet find no cure for my pain I'll go and enquire on the Isle of St. Helena No there we will whisper in vain Now tell me ye critics now tell me in time The nation I'll range my sweet linnet to find Was he slain at Waterloo or at Elba on the Rhine If he was I shall never see him more 
From Songs the Whalemen Sang, Huntington Note: The Green Linnet, needless to say, was Napoleon. The Irish liked him. RG