LOUISBURGH IN COUNTY MAYO

by John T Morahan   (c. 1930s)

Mid sadness of fond recollections tonight
A yearning possesses my soul
To end the hard struggle and thirty years fight
For fame on Los Angeles roll
In exile I pine for my loved native isle
And my thoughts get full rein as they go
To scenes that were dearest when Heaven did smile
On  Louisburgh in County Mayo

I see the dear faces I loved as a lad
And long to be with them once more
A sweet gentle mother, a kind loving Dad
May God bless them both o'er an o'er
And oh, for the friends that I knew long ago
The truest and dearest on earth
I'd love to be with them tonight in Mayo
In Louisburgh, the place of my birth

Dear home of my childhood I see you again
In fancy I visit once more
Your four cross-shaped streets and the Square with its crane
Close hugging Clew Bay's genial shore
At eve I gaze down from the heights round the town
While smoke wisps from chimneys below
Wave toilers back homewards to tea golden-brown
In Louisburgh in County Mayo

I cherish the memories of days so long fled
Recalling again mid my woes
In grandeur and glory majestic Old Head
Its beauty a heaven's repose
Bunowen too a picture from Nature's own hand
I fondly salute Fairy Hill
Then over the river to Carramore strand
And here fancy travels at will

As memories crowd on me I pause to recall
The ever-unfading joys here
The great parish races I loved above all
For each one I now shed a tear
Oh day of all days for the young and the old
Who knew neither gentle nor low
When sport was the glory and honour the gold
In Louisburgh in County Mayo

Through Askelane, Emlagh Roonagh and Polglass
By Accony's clustered array
The Dooaghs, Carrowniskey, by Roonith and Cross
By Devlin, Bunlough and its bay
I hail Tallabawn famed in story and song
Then Gowlawn and rest at Aillemore
And whisper a prayer for the great buried throng
In Killeen, God's own sacred store

To Feenoon and Cluaintí I give a fond nod
To Crickeen and Altóir a bow
And smile on the Creggauns where oft time I trod
Ah, would I were really there now
Through Tully, Falduff, Ballyhip and the Shraughs
By Mooneen to gaze on the Reek
Then over to hallowed Kilgeever where lies
God's acre deserted and bleak.

I enter the graveyard and bend at the well
It boils, bringing joy to my soul
I pray for the dead lying each in his cell
Awaiting the great judge's roll
In spirit I offer a station alone
To heaven my earnest prayers flow
For life once again midst the friends I have known
In Louisburgh in County Mayo

Mid sadness of fond recollections tonight
A yearning possesses my soul
To end the hard struggle and thirty years fight
For fame on Los Angeles roll
No longer I'll pine for my loved native isle
Tomorrow I'll leave here and go
To Ireland, my sireland, and heaven will smile
On Louisburgh in County Mayo