Original Rootsweb Co. Tyrone Community Site
Old Cross of Ardboe
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Lyrics
Fare well my native green clad hills, farewell to my shamrock plain Ye verdant banks of sweet Lough Neagh and silvery winding streams Though far from my home in green Tyrone where from you first I strayed I adore you Killcolpy, home of my boyhood days Shall I ever see the grand old plains where in youthful days I roved Or wander through those grand old woods with the girl I dearly loved Or ever more by Lough Neagh's shore, shall I pass a summer's day Or hear again the larks sweet strain or the blackbirds pysomes play Shall I ever rove by Belmonts grove or Cranan's lofty hills Or hear again the fairy tale of the rath behind the mill Will the nightingale that charms the vale, by me be heard no more As I watched at eve, the wild drake leave for the bogs of sweet Dromore. Shall my oars e're rest on your wild wave crest or again see the salmon play While sailing o'er from Tyrone's green shore bound for Antrim Bay Or an autumn gale e're fill my sail with a dim declining moon See me tempest toss on the shores of Doss or the raging Bay of Toome. Shall I ne'er behold Shane's Castle bold or gaze on Mazzereene Shall my cot e're land on the banks of Bann, Coney Island or Roskeen Shall I ever stray by the Washing Bay, the weary trout to coy Or set my line on an evening fine round the shores of green Mountjoy All for you Ardboe, my tears do flow when I think and call to mind My parents dear and friends sincere and comrades true and kind But I hope to graze on your flowery braes e're seven long years come round And hands to clasp in friendships grasp of those I left behind My friends out here in America have all that there hearts desire My pockets filled with dollar bills, I am dressed in the grand attire I would give it all for one country ball at home by the old hearth stone In a cabin near Lough Neagh so dear in my own dear native home And though alas, long years have passed, still I toast that beauteous isle And short or long on that land of song, may the star of freedom smile May plenty bloom from the Bann to Toome, and the shamrocks verdant grow Green o'er my grave by Lough Neagh's waves and the Old Cross of Ardboe |