Oh, then fare ye well, sweet Donegal, the Rosses and Gweedore,
I'm crossing the main ocean, where the foaming billows roar;
It breaks my heart from you to part, where I spent many happy days,
Farewell to kind relations for I'm bound for Amerikay.
Oh my love is tall and handsome and her age is scarce eighteen,
She far exceeds all other fair maids when she trips o'er the green;
Her lovely neck and shoulders are fairer than the snow,
Till the day I die I'll ne'er deny my Mary from Dungloe.
If I was at home in sweet Dungloe, a letter I would write,
Kind thoughts would fill my bosom for Mary, my delight;
'Tis in her father's garden the fairest violets grow,
And 'twas there I came to court the maid, my Mary from Dungloe.
Ah, then Mary, you're my heart's delight, my pride, and only care,
It was your cruel father would not let me stay there;
But absence makes the heart grow fond and when I'm o'er the main,
May the Lord protect my darling girl till I return again.
And I wished I was in sweet Dungloe and seated on the grass,
And by my side a bottle of wine and on my knee a lass;
I'd call for liquor of the best and I'd pay before I go,
And I'd roll my Mary in my arms in the town of sweet Dungloe.
####.... Author unknown. Variant of an Irish traditional collected in 1913 and published as #75 in Irish Street Ballads, collected and edited by Colm O Lochlainn (A Corinth Book, New York, distributed by Citadel Press, 1960) ....####
From Wikipedia: Dungloe or Dunglow - town in County Donegal, Ireland. The river at the bottom of the town could only be crossed years ago over a grey granite slab lying in the riverbed, hence the Irish name of the town, An Clochán Liath, which means the grey stepping-stone. The bridge was built in 1762. The town attracts many tourists every August when the Mary From Dungloe International Festival takes place. It was founded in the 1960s and it has been frequented by many special guests over the years. The picturesque Dungloe Bay and surrounding hills have proved very popular with visitors. There is also a festival dedicated to the socialist writer Peadar O'Donnell each autumn. A little to the north of the town is the site of the ancient church of Templecrone.
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