Love this one. Also remember it as "October Winds".
One of the old beliefs I've heard of (Scots, Irish, Gael, Celt?) is that a clan (family group)has it's own spirit(the banshee) which warns of death/ill fortune to any of its members by howling or crying, prior to occurence, usually at night. I was also told that Blackwater was the name of a river. That verse (starting "Bring no ill will to hinder us...")is a mixed prayer: evil spirits/ghosts LEAVE MY BABY ALONE, and Holy Mary (Jesus' mom)intercede for us with God. And I always heard the last line of the first verse as "A bird of spring are you",but "bud" makes sense, too. But the last verse, I think, may be more like:
    "Take time to thrive, my ray of hope,(r.o.h.= the baby)
    In the gardens of Dromore.
    Take heed, young eaglet(y.e.=the baby), til thy wings
    Be feather-fit to soar --
    A little rest, and then the world
    Is full of work to do."
I've wondered if the song isn't the prayer of a young widow with a baby, hoping for peacetime and no epidemics, so she has a better chance of raising the child to adulthood. Nevertheless, to quote K. Hepburn, it works soft and slow in a rocking chair with a groggy child, one of my favorite workstations.         Tw