 | [The boatmen of Kerry, in] The Ballads of Ireland |  |
53
THE BOATMEN OF KERRY.
Above the dark waters the sea-gulls
are screaming;
Their wings in the sunlight are glancing and gleaming;
With keen eyes they're watching the herrings in motion,
As onward they come from the wild restless ocean.
Now, praise be to God for the hope that shines o'er us,
This season at least will cast plenty before us.
When safely returning, with our hookers well laden,
How gayly will sound the clear laugh of each maiden.
O! light as young fawns will they run down to meet us
With accents of love on the sea-shore to greet us;
While merrily over the waters we're gliding,
Each wave as it rolls with our boat-stems dividing;
Till high on the beach ev'ry black boat is stranded—
Her stout crew in health and in safety all landed,
Near cabins, though humble, from whence they can borrow
Content for the day and new hope for the morrow.
The loved of our maidens are Boatmen of Kerry!
For stalwart and true are the Boatmen of Kerry!
To guide the black hooker, or scull the light wherry,
My life on the skill of the Boatmen of Kerry!
Their wings in the sunlight are glancing and gleaming;
With keen eyes they're watching the herrings in motion,
As onward they come from the wild restless ocean.
Now, praise be to God for the hope that shines o'er us,
This season at least will cast plenty before us.
When safely returning, with our hookers well laden,
How gayly will sound the clear laugh of each maiden.
O! light as young fawns will they run down to meet us
With accents of love on the sea-shore to greet us;
54
Each wave as it rolls with our boat-stems dividing;
Till high on the beach ev'ry black boat is stranded—
Her stout crew in health and in safety all landed,
Near cabins, though humble, from whence they can borrow
Content for the day and new hope for the morrow.
The loved of our maidens are Boatmen of Kerry!
For stalwart and true are the Boatmen of Kerry!
To guide the black hooker, or scull the light wherry,
My life on the skill of the Boatmen of Kerry!
The rich man from feasting may seek his soft pillow—
The plank is our bed, and our home is the billow;
Our sails may be rent, and our rigging be riven,
Yet know we no fear, for our trust is in Heaven.
To waves at the base of dark Brandon's steep highlands,
To sand-bank and rock, near the green Samphire islands,
The nets that we cast in the night are no strangers—
The nets that we tend in all trials and dangers.
From north, east, or west, though the wild winds be blowing,
Though waves be all madly or placidly flowing—
Those nets get us food when our children are crying,
Those nets give us joy when all sadly we're sighing;
When signs in the bay lie around us and near us,
With thoughts about home to inspire us and cheer us—
When falls over earth the gray shade of the even,
When gleams the first star in the wide vault of Heaven,
Through gloom and through danger each bold boatman urges,
With sail or with oar, his frail boat through the surges.
O, loved of our maidens are Boatmen of Kerry!
For stalwart and true are the Boatmen of Kerry!
To guide the black hooker, or scull the light wherry,
My life on the skill of the Boatmen of Kerry!
The plank is our bed, and our home is the billow;
Our sails may be rent, and our rigging be riven,
Yet know we no fear, for our trust is in Heaven.
To waves at the base of dark Brandon's steep highlands,
To sand-bank and rock, near the green Samphire islands,
The nets that we cast in the night are no strangers—
The nets that we tend in all trials and dangers.
From north, east, or west, though the wild winds be blowing,
Though waves be all madly or placidly flowing—
Those nets get us food when our children are crying,
Those nets give us joy when all sadly we're sighing;
When signs in the bay lie around us and near us,
With thoughts about home to inspire us and cheer us—
When falls over earth the gray shade of the even,
When gleams the first star in the wide vault of Heaven,
Through gloom and through danger each bold boatman urges,
With sail or with oar, his frail boat through the surges.
O, loved of our maidens are Boatmen of Kerry!
For stalwart and true are the Boatmen of Kerry!
To guide the black hooker, or scull the light wherry,
My life on the skill of the Boatmen of Kerry!
Though wealth is not ours, though our fortunes are lowly,
Our hearts are at rest, for our thoughts are all holy:
O! who would deny it that saw, in fair weather,
Our black boats assembled at anchor together—
Their crews all on board them, prepared, with devotion,
To list to the Mass we get read on the ocean?
O! there is the faith that of heaven is surest—
O! there is religion the highest and purest—
O! could you but view them, with eyes upward roving
To God ever living—to God ever loving;
The deep wave beneath them, the blue Heaven o'er them,
The tall cliffs around them, the altar before them,
You'd say “'tis a sight to remember with pleasure—
A sight that a poet would gloat o'er and treasure.
O! ne'er shall my soul lose the lesson they've taught her—
Those fishermen poor, with their Mass on the water.”
O, loved of our maidens are Boatmen of Kerry!
Religious and pure are the Boatmen of Kerry!
To guide the black hooker, or scull the light wherry,
My life on the skill of the Boatmen of Kerry!
Our hearts are at rest, for our thoughts are all holy:
O! who would deny it that saw, in fair weather,
Our black boats assembled at anchor together—
Their crews all on board them, prepared, with devotion,
To list to the Mass we get read on the ocean?
O! there is the faith that of heaven is surest—
O! there is religion the highest and purest—
O! could you but view them, with eyes upward roving
To God ever living—to God ever loving;
55
The tall cliffs around them, the altar before them,
You'd say “'tis a sight to remember with pleasure—
A sight that a poet would gloat o'er and treasure.
O! ne'er shall my soul lose the lesson they've taught her—
Those fishermen poor, with their Mass on the water.”
O, loved of our maidens are Boatmen of Kerry!
Religious and pure are the Boatmen of Kerry!
To guide the black hooker, or scull the light wherry,
My life on the skill of the Boatmen of Kerry!
Heremon.
| [The boatmen of Kerry, in] The Ballads of Ireland | |