School: Baile an Ghaorthaidh, Cluain Meala

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1. Song - His Letter

   “Dear Mary it's years since we parted”

   

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   Song: HIS LETTER
   I
   Dear Mary, it’s years since we parted,
   But oft as I sit by the fire,
   In this faraway land where I’ve started,
   A mill for the making of wire.
   I think of the town, and the meadows,
   That slopes to the Suir’s rushy side,
   And the maidens with the blushes as red
   As the sunset at evening tide
   II
   Is the wilderness lovely as ever,
   Is the Ragwell a trysting place yet,
   Do young couples go down by the river,
   How often at Dudley’s we met.
   Do the boys go fishing at Glenary,
   Buy apples and dillisk from Kate.
   Or go drive as of yore to the Quarry’s,
   Returning enjoyably late.
   III
   I hear there’s no sport at elections,
   Budge Whelan is dead, rest his soul.
   If he lived what would be his reflection,
   At the present queer state of the poll.
   Ah! the days of the torchlight processions,
   Of the heroes that never would flinch.
   With their die on the scaffold professions,
   While dying to live on the bench

   (continues on next page)

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

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

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Teresa O' Brien

   Informant

   Mr Edmond O' Brien

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Husseystown, Co. Tipperary