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Adieu To Belashanny

from Sweet Anne's Road by Jim Sharkey

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about

This is a lovely descriptive poem by William Allingham who was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland in 1824. The poem is quite long so to make it work as a song I had to leave out some verses which was kind of hard to do. His descriptions are so beautiful and I imagine at a time when there was no photography the poem provided vivid images of the west coast of Ireland.

lyrics

ADIEU TO BELASHANNY
(Poem by William Allingham, Music by Jim Sharkey)

Adieu to Belashanny! where I was bred and born;
Go where I may, I'll think of you, as sure as night and morn.
The kindly spot, the friendly town, where every one is known,
And not a face in all the place but partly seems my own;
There's not a house or window, there's not a field or hill,
But, east or west, in foreign lands, I recollect them still.
I leave my warm heart with you, tho' my back I'm forced to turn
Adieu to Belashanny, and the winding banks of Erne!

No more on pleasant evenings we'll saunter down the Mall,
When the trout is rising to the fly, the salmon to the fall.
The boat comes straining on her net, and heavily she creeps,
Cast off, cast off - she feels the oars, and to her berth she sweeps;
Now fore and aft keep hauling, and gathering up the clew.
Till a silver wave of salmon rolls in among the crew.
Then they may sit, with pipes a-lit, and many a joke and 'yarn'
Adieu to Belashanny; and the winding banks of Erne!

The thrush will call through Camlin groves the live- long summer day;
The waters run by mossy cliff, and banks with wild flowers gay;
The girls will bring their work and sing beneath a twisted thorn,
Or stray with sweethearts down the path among the growing corn;
Along the river-side they go, where I have often been,
O never shall I see again the days that I have seen!
A thousand chances are to one I never may return
Adieu to Belashanny, and the winding banks of Erne!

If ever I'm a money'd man, I mean, please God, to cast
My golden anchor in the place where youthful years were pass'd;
Though heads that now are black and brown must meanwhile gather gray,
New faces rise by every hearth, and old ones drop away
Yet dearer still that Irish hill than all the world beside;
It's home, sweet home, where'er I roam, through lands and waters wide.
And if fortune does allow me, I surely will return
To my native Belashanny, and the winding banks of Erne.

credits

from Sweet Anne's Road, released October 11, 2016

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Jim Sharkey Portland, Maine

Songwriter Jim Sharkey is an Irish and Americana folk musician. Jim grew up in County Roscommon, Ireland. He plays around the northeastern US. Jim's original songs blend Irish traditional ballad influences with contemporary issues.

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