Lyr Add: Bannow Mother’s Lament (Philip Doyle)

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BANNOW MOTHER'S LAMENT (Philip Doyle)
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 22 Mar 20 - 07:53 AM

How's this for a tear jerking Mothering Sunday song !? :(

The Bannow Mother’s Lament

The beans are flowering on Bannow Moor
The corn is shooting fornent the door
But who’s to reap them if you two go
Oh, weary on it, and weary oh.

Now, Bride, alanna, ‘tis striking one
‘Tis time the neighbours should be all gone
‘Tis short your sleep till the crows will crow
Oh, weary on it, and weary oh.

I’ll leave you finish the eight hand reel
The more I see it the more I feel
All the pride of Ireland and of long ago
Oh, weary on it, and weary oh.

Now, James, acushla, we’re tired to pray
And a single decade is all we’ll say
The boat is early and the clock is slow
Oh, weary on it, and weary oh.

Beside the greeshuck I sit and doze
I darn their stockings and air their clothes
All starched and ironed and white as snow
Oh, weary on it, and weary oh.

Oh, dooshe droleen, ‘tis morning now
I’ll light the fire and I’ll milk the cow
I’ll never call you again I know
Oh, weary on it, and weary oh.

I watched them waving up Carrig Hill
I heard them crying I hear them still
The summer sunlight has turned to snow
Oh, weary on it, and weary oh.

1916 Fr Philip Doyle O. S. A. Maudlintown, Wellingtonbridge 

"There is an economic naiveté in Fr Doyle’s ballad: the meagre bit of agriculture outlined in the opening stanza would not suffice to provide a livelihood for two young men. Fr Doyle evokes the local place names—a sign of his love of the parish of Carrig-on-Bannow."
Bannow Historical Society
http://www.bannowhistory.ie/sermons_items/fr-doyles-ballad/

sung by Aileen Lambert, learned from Paddy Berry, great nephew of Philip Doyle, with an extra couple of lines :
That our two children should have to go
To work for people we'll never know
https://youtu.be/Gsm90j5YFzk