THE ORANGEMAN'S WIFE
(SONGS AND BALLADS OF IRELAND - p46)

I wander by the limpid shore
When fields and flow-ret' bloom;
But, O! my heart is sad and sore-
My soul is sunk in gloom-
All cay I cry ochone! ochone!
I weep from night till morn-
I wish that I were dead and gone,
Or never had been born.

My father dwelt beside Tyrone,
And with him children five;
But I to Charlemnot had gone,
At service there to live.
O brothers fond! O sister dear!
How ill I paid your love!
O father! father! how I fear
To meet thy soul above!

My mother left us long ago-
A lovely corpse was she-
But we had longer days of woe
In this sad world to be.
My dreary days will soon be done-
I pine in grief forlon;
I wish that I were dead and gone,
Or never had been born.

It was the year of Ninety-Eight,
The Wreckers came about:
They burned my father's stack of wheat,
And drove my brothers out;
They forced my sister to their lust-
God grant my father rest!
For the Captain of the Wreckers thrust
A bayonet through his breast.

It was a dreadful, dreadful year;
And I was blindly led,
In love, and lonliness, and fear,
A loyal man to wed;
And still my heart is his alone,
It breaks but cannot turn;
I wish that I were dead and gone,
Or never had been born.

Next year we lived in quiet love,
And kissed our infant boy;
And peace had spread her wings above
Our dwelling at the Moy.
And then my wayworn brothers came
To share our peace and rest;
And poor lost Rose, to hide her shame
And sorrow in my breast.

They came, but soon they turned and fled-
Preserve my soul, O God!
It was my husband's hand, they said,
That shed my father's blood.
All day I cry ochone! ochone!
I weep from night till morn;
And O, that I were dead and gone,
Or never had been born!