Dark Inishowen

Dark Inishowen  

from the singing of Michael McGonigle (James Eoghain)

Ye lovers of beauty so fair and forlorn
So careless I wander so far from my home
I am off by the moonlight or the break of morning
I’ll be found in the mountains of dark Inishowen

I strayed ’round a place and they call it Clonmany
In search of a fair maid that I might adore
But a fair maid to love me I could not find any
From the Mindoran bridge to the Gap of Mamore

Adieu to the place where I once had a fair maid
No wonder when absent that I do make mourn
When I think of those green fields the haunts of that fair one
Sure I pine for my darling in dark Inishowen

At night when sleeping in my dreams I caress her
Sure I feel as happy as when I was home
When I speak to the vision that bids me caress her
To a bosom that’s pining in dark Inishowen

Well it’s now I am stationed in the County Fermanagh
Far away from that cottage that I call my own
And if I go back it will be for to wed her
And I’ll live with my darling in dark Inishowen

Well it’s many’s the day since I last saw her dwelling
When I think of that cabin I might never see no more
Sure I’ll walk round that wild bay where the wild seas are rolling
From the Tullagh’s black rocks to the gap of Mamore