An old Ballad of Killyfole

[Category:Poem]

One morning bright and early as I went to Clones fair I met a maid so beautiful she seemed beyond compare Her rosy lips and dainty steps soon caused my heart to soar So I asked if she would marry me, on Killyfole Lough shore

With eyes that spoke as clearly as the words upon a page She softly sighed it cannot be that I with you engage I've been promised to another and though it grieves me sore We both must part forever here, on Killyfole Lough shore

I drew her closely to my breast and stroked her long brown hair Another you can't marry now if it is for me you care. With words and tears I begged her hand and kissed her more and more To marry me she'd not agree, on Killyfole Lough shore!

A parting's never easy and I still could see her smile As I to Clones bent my step mile after aching mile And there the sergeant said to me Enlist and join our corps You'll never win that pretty girl, on Killyfole Lough shore

Farewell to Killyfole! Farewell, Farewell to sweet Slieve Beagh! I'm off to fight the foreigner for I can no longer stay In Flanders mud and splashed with blood where the cannon spit and roar I'll dream of her that once I loved, on Killyfole Lough shore.

(Story is that this was found in a old recipe book and seems to have been written around the time of the First World War. If sung, the last line should be repeated in each verse)