School: Caroreigh (roll number 6700)

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1. Ballyshannon Lane

   

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   In ninety-six as the moon she fixed
   Her beams o'er Scullabogue,
   The twinkling stars and the planet Mars
   Were shining o'er each grove,
   Where the Hessian brutes had bit the dust
   And Cromwell's crew were slain,
   Where the yeomen fled and left their dead,
   In Ballyshannon Lane

   
   I sat for a while upon the stile
   At the Church of old Courthoyle,
   One night in June when a silvery moon
   O'er the rebels' grave did sail.
   The scenes of '98 that I'll relate
   Passed through my youthful brain,
   And I prayed for the dead from Raheen that bled
   In Ballyshannon Lane.

   
   I passed Jim Moore and the old forge door
   Where old (?) forged the pike
   The night was kind, no rain or wind
   Blew over hill or dyke.
   At Furlong's gate I chance to wait,
   And I thought how this youth was slain
   The Hessian crew, this lad they slew
   In Ballyshannon Lane

   
   My mother too, God rest her soul,
   She showed me where he fell
   Across the lands, where Doyle's house stands
   He fought manfully and well.
   Beyond Kehoes he chased the foes
   And many a hessian had slain;
   Till six bayonets pressed through his rebel breast
   In Balyshannon Lane.

   
   In Keating's bawn ere the morning's dawn
   When the barn was all in flames,
   My three uncles fell, I grieve to tell,
   That's Martin, Tom and James.
   Whilst my Aunt Kate stood at the gate
   Herself and child were slain,
   And my teeth I clenched to be revenged
   In Ballyshannon Lane.

   
   This was the song my mother sang
   Into my youthful ears,
   And down her cheeks, for weeks and weeks,
   Rolled hot and scalding tears.
   My brother Mike forged me a pike
   To take to the hills again,
   And, if Ireland need, I am here to bleed
   In Ballyshannon Lane

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. genre
      1. poetry
         1. folk poetry (~9,504)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Á. Ní Shúilleabháin

   Gender

   Female