SWEET INNISCARRA
(John Fitzgerald 1825-1910)

I have travelled in exile 'midst cold-hearted strangers
Far, far from my home, and the beautiful Lee
I have struggled alone through all sorrows and dangers
I braved every storm by land and by sea
Through Columbia's wild forests or Indiana's spicy bowers
And the great foreign rivers whose sands are of gold
I have sighed for thee still 'mid the birds and the flowers
I love you and will 'til this heart will grow cold.

I have roved with fair maidens with dark flowing tresses
And beautiful eyes that looked kindly on me
But I thought with regret of the smiles and caresses
Of a fair-haired young maiden who lives by the Lee
I have come back again but she's not in her bower
And the river flows past with its calm tiny wave
I have called her in vain, for the ivy-crowned tower
Of Sweet Inniscarra o'ershadows her grave.

And the home of my childhood to ruin is fallen
The dear ones that blessed it shall greet me no more
But I gaze on it still joyous visions recalling
Though the long grass has grown on the step of the door
I'll be with you soon and the shamrock above me
From my own native birthplace never more shall I roam
Till I'm laid in the grave with the dear one that loved me
As in death she will welcome her wanderer home.

From the Comholtas Ceoltoiri Eireann publication, TRADITIONAL SONGS AND SINGERS, a collection, on tape and accompanying book, of traditional songs in the English language sung by Irish traditional singers. ON TAPE 22 Songs.

The book contains the words of the songs as sung on the tape, with some information about the songs and the singers; plus an article which discusses trends and developments in the field of Irish traditional singing.

Prepared and edited (in 1977?) by Séamus Mac Mathúna, who writes of this song:

'I first heard it sung by Paddy Breen of Kilmihil, County Clare, some fifteen years ago, and, sometime later, by Siney Crotty. The words were written by John Fitzgerald (The Bard of the Lee), a Cork poet and song writer (1825-1910). Fitzgerald titled it "The Exile's Return". I have heard Fitzgerald's poems recited in Cork but they are seldom sung in traditional sessions.'
NMK

Link to more information on TRADITIONAL SONGS AND SINGERS

Noreen