The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #12957 Message #4049491
Posted By: GUEST
30-Apr-20 - 03:56 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Horses and Plough (Micheál Ó h Ógáin)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Horses and Plough (Micheál Ó h Ógáin)
I heard the following version from Con Greaney
Dave Barron
HORSES AND PLOUGH
Oh, balmy the breezes that blow in the spring
And sweet is the music the song thrushes sing,
But I sigh for a sight that I seldom see now,
A man in the fields with his horses and plough.
Farewell to the days of my youth long ago,
When I harnessed my seisreach near the barn down below.
Then away to the highland above Carrigdhoun
To cleave deep the green sward with horses and plough.
Invoking a blessing I started the day,
Bail O Dhia ar an obair is what I would say,
Hoping for guidance to keep my know how
And to plough a straight furrow with horses and plough.
Then up on the headland every once in a while
I’d rest my poor body all aching with toil,
With the sleeve of my shirt wipe the sweat from my brow
As I gazed at the work of my horses and plough.
With whistling and lilting and the bar of a song
I’d lighten my labour all the day long,
With seagulls around me and crows on the bough
All seeking the bounty of horses and plough.
And in the evening when the sun was sunk low
With my hurley and ball to the sportsfield I would go.
To win the all-Ireland we all made a vow
While we sought recreation from horses and plough.
But the clatter of tractors, pollution and all,
Has crippled the capall and sad was his fall,
While far away OPEC we richly endow
Forgetting the value of horses and plough.
Soon I'll be leaving this valley of woe,
To the green fields of heaven I hope I will go.
One request from St. Peter I hope he'll allow:
Eternal employment with horses and plough.