The Legacy of Kickham

Charles Kickham's gravestone in St. Michael's Churchyard, Mullinahone carries the following tribute from his friend Rose Kavanagh:

Rare loyal heart and stately head of grey,
Wise with the wisdom wrested out of pain,
We miss the slender hand, the brave bright brain,
All faith and hope to point and light the way,
Our land should go, oh surely not in vain,
That beacon burned for us, for we can lay,
Fast hold of the fair life without a stain
And mould our own upon it—we can weigh
Full well his fate who suffered, sang and died
As nobly as he lived ah nought could tame
The truth in him, for nought could trust aside,
His lifelong love, the land whose sacred name
Throbbed to the last though his life's ebbing tide,
And lit the face of death with love's white flame.