"Special Care" wrote ...

All Our Songs Are Sad
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dddp6bt4_40f6z7k8dr

The great Gaels of Ireland, the people God made mad
For all our wars are merry
And all our songs are sad

… this verse [or @ least the orig'l ...] is one of those Famous Quotes I'd never known the source of, other than that it was by G.K. Chesterton. […] So... I thought I'd look it up... [...]

The orig’l verse is:

For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad.

[...]

'The Ballad of the White Horse' is an epic poem loosely based on the battle in 878 AD between the Anglo-Saxon forces of Alfred the Great & the Danes led by Guthrum. In Chesterton’s poem, this is about the struggle – & victory – of Christianity against paganism (& a thinly shrouded critique of contemporary agnosticism & atheism), tho in fact the result was a treaty that solidified the boundaries of was to become known as the Danelaw, vs. 'England'.

FYI, … the full text of 'The Ballad of the White Horse' is available online in a no. of venues:

Project Gutenberg:    The Ballad of the White Horse
Google Books:          The Ballad of the White Horse  

& as audio recordings as well, courtesy of LibriVox...

The passage in which the Famous Quote occurs is the encounter of Alfred &the fictional ‘Colan of the Sacred Tree’ at Caerleon, Wales - which among other things reveals that Chesterton didn't know the difference btwn P- & Q-Celtic.

IMHO, Colan seems to echo Ribh, from Yeats' "Supernatural Songs" - but I'll post that separately so others may judge for themselves....

And the man was come like a shadow,
From the shadow of Druid trees,
Where Usk, with mighty murmurings,
Past Caerleon of the fallen kings,
Goes out to ghostly seas.

Last of a race in ruin--
He spoke the speech of the Gaels;
His kin were in holy Ireland,
Or up in the crags of Wales.

But his soul stood with his mother's folk,
That were of the rain-wrapped isle,
Where Patrick and Brandan westerly
Looked out at last on a landless sea
And the sun's last smile.

His harp was carved and cunning,
As the Celtic craftsman makes,
Graven all over with twisting shapes
Like many headless snakes.

His harp was carved and cunning,
His sword prompt and sharp,
And he was gay when he held the sword,
Sad when he held the harp.

For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad.

He kept the Roman order,
He made the Christian sign;
But his eyes grew often blind and bright,
And the sea that rose in the rocks at night
Rose to his head like wine.

He made the sign of the cross of God,
He knew the Roman prayer,
But he had unreason in his heart
Because of the gods that were.

Even they that walked on the high cliffs,
High as the clouds were then,
Gods of unbearable beauty,
That broke the hearts of men.

And whether in seat or saddle,
Whether with frown or smile,
Whether at feast or fight was he,
He heard the noise of a nameless sea
On an undiscovered isle.

Lifting the great green ivy
And the great spear lowering,
One said, "I am Alfred of Wessex,
And I am a conquered king." .

And the man of the cave made answer,
And his eyes were stars of scorn,
"And better kings were conquered
Or ever your sires were born. .

"What goddess was your mother,
What fay your breed begot,
That you should not die with Uther
And Arthur and Lancelot? .

"But when you win you brag and blow,
And when you lose you rail,
Army of eastland yokels
Not strong enough to fail." .

"I bring not boast or railing,"
Spake Alfred not in ire,
"I bring of Our Lady a lesson set,
This--that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher." .

Then Colan of the Sacred Tree
Tossed his black mane on high,
And cried, as rigidly he rose,
"And if the sea and sky be foes,
We will tame the sea and sky."