Keane of Kilnamona

 The following is a (rather poor) recording on mobile phone of the Patrick Kavanagh 'Raglan Road' as sung by Stacia Keane at the Br Keane reception in the Kilnamona Community Centre, July 17, 2008.   Click on  Raglan Road for playing on Media Player (wma format; Note: if Media Player is not available on your system, it may be downloaded free from Microsoft). Also, note slight variations in lyric as rendered by Stacia. 

         1
On Raglan Road of an Autumn day
I saw her first and knew,
That her dark hair would weave a snare
That I might someday rue.
I saw the danger and I passed
Along the enchanted way.
And I said,"Let grief be a fallen leaf
At the dawning of the day."
                         2
On Grafton Street in November, we
Tripped lightly along the ledge
Of a deep ravine where can be seen
The worth of passion play.
The Queen of Hearts still making tarts
And I not making hay;
Oh, I loved too much and by such and such
Is happiness thrown away.

                      3
I gave her gifts of the mind,
I gave her the secret signs,
That's known to the artists who have known
The true gods of sound and stone.
And her words and tint without stint
I gave her poems to say
With her own name there and her own dark hair
Like clouds over fields of May.
                        4
On a quiet street where old ghosts meet
I see her walking now,
And away from me so hurriedly
My reason must allow.
That I had loved, not as I should
A creature made of clay,
When the angel woos the clay, he'll lose
His wings at the dawn of day.

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