I found these lyrics, copied verbatim, at several places on the Internet. One of them has semi-official status, having been printed in a tourism brochure for Abbeyfeale. However, no source is identified there. Another source attributes the song to "local balladeer, Tade Gowran." DEAREST HOME ON THE BANKS OF THE FEALE Dearest home of my youth, oh how painful it is to be parted from thee. There are others who loved you as I do, and do seek for a home o'er the sea. But no matter where e'er I may wander, my thoughts I will never conceal. I will always think of you the fonder, dearest home on the Banks of the Feale. On the cliff by the side of that river, a hundred feet over the strand, They erected a number of tombstones, where the ruins of the Old Abbey stand. Where oft our departed forefathers, from the Sassanach Foe had to steal, To hear Holy Mass on a Sunday, in the churchyard at sweet Abbeyfeale. And when I'm in the land of the stranger, away far away o'er the foam. If in safety I wander, or danger, my thoughts will fly back to my home. And when life's weary journey is ended, I know that contented I'll feel, To be laid in the ruins of that Abbey, in the churchyard in sweet Abbeyfeale.
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