Poems – Mother Ireland

Ireland, my Ireland,
To a new world, I must depart,
Today, I travel from your bosom
And it breaks my grieving heart.

I lay by my mother’s graveside
Were a litany of saints, I did pray,
I heard the voice of St.Patrick speak,
Calling for St.Brendan to take me away.

The famine has killed your children,
Left your land barren and diseased,
Now the coffins ships depart from your shore,
Sailing the waters of the Irish Sea.

For I travel over to Scotland
To were St.Columba preached from his soul.
My love for Ireland will never fade
As I travel the miles to Glasgow.

I will return, before my days are gone,
When Our Lord has ploughed the land,
And I will be buried were my mother sleeps,
Led to heaven by St.Brigid’s hand.

Daniel McDonagh Oct’2006