Hi I went to Cúilmúir - its a suburb of Derry City - to a pub there and there was not statue and noone in the bar even the locals had heard of the song !!! to my utter amazement. Anyway, I wrote a 5th verse for it - the reason being that the song is incomplete as it stands. The lyrics are really about a lost school friend of mine Helen just after I found out she had died of a young age. She certainly looked like the maid would look with auburn hair and a very Irish look like a princess. I wrote it with a sore heart. The lyrics follow the same poetic pattern as the rest of the song and the alliteration. It means the maid is returning to Erin after her voyage of emigration but she isnt really only her spirit is. And the boy besotted with her will finally join her but not in this life. This all fails if the Maid is really a ship as I read somewhere lol !!! Anyway with Irish music it can have deep and meaningful messages or no message at all and just be about the 'craic'. Anyway here it goes verse 5 of the 'Maid of Cúil Múir'.

Now the maid lies-a-waitin
And the light starts to fade
For she's bound home to Erin
To the land our Lord made
But the next time that I'll see her
I'll grieve never more
For she'll e'r be my true love
She's the Maid of Cúil Múir





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