The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #31333   Message #407042
Posted By: John Moulden
27-Feb-01 - 04:42 AM
Thread Name: Help: Moorlough Shore
Subject: RE: Help: Moorlough Shore
Sam Henry presented the following version as "The Maid of Mourne Shore" on 5th July 1923. (Sam Henry's "Songs of the People" page 371.

The Maid of Mourne Shore

Ye hills and dales and flowery vales that lie round Mourne shore,
Ye winds that blow o'er Martin's hills: will I never hear you more?
Where the primrose grows and the violet blows and the sporting trout there plays,
With line and hook, delight I took to spend my youthful days.

Last night I went to see my love to hear what she would say,
Thinking she would pity me, lest I should go away;
She said, 'I love a sailor, he's the lad that I adore,
And seven years I'll wait on him, so trouble me no more.'

'Perhaps your sailor may be lost when crossing o'er the main,
Or otherwise has fixed his mind upon some comely dame.'
'Well, if the sea proves false to me, no other I'll enjoy,
For ever since I saw his face I loved my sailor boy.'

Farewell now to Lord Edmund's groves, likewise the Bleaching Green,
Where the linen webs lie clean and white, pure flows the crystal stream,
Where many's the happy day I spent, but now, alas, they're o'er
Since the lass I love has banished me far, far from Mourne shore.

Our ship she lies off Warren's Point, just ready to set sail,
May all goodness now protect her with a sweet and pleasant gale.
Had I ten thousand pounds in gold, or had I ten times more,
I would freely share with the girl I love, the maid of Mourne shore.

The bleaching green reference is not in any way area specific. The linen trade was wide-spread throughout Ulster.