Notes

Through Benedy Glen oft indeed have I wandered
With a heart that’s as light as the dew of the morn
Her heather-clad mountains and clear crystal fountains
Delightful to view by the light of the dawn.

I see her glad hills and swift-running streamlets
Eternally flowing right down to the sea
By her side I lay down on a bank of blue violets
And it’s murmuring and gurgling her music to me.

In far foreign lands oft to her sons wandered
By Niagara Falls or the Prairie grand
Where nature is seen both majestic and savage
But their hearts are at home in their dear native land.

They long to return to the banks of the Lena
The Roe and its branches on every side
That flows the land of that once great O’Cahan
Who once 'gainst the Saxon defended with pride.

Her daughters are fair and her sons they are gallant
They scorn the tyrant the serf and the slave
But their rights they maintain at the point of a bayonet
With an arm that is stout and an arm that is brave.

In an abbey not far from the town of Dungiven
Their spirit hovers over that once matchless soil
Where there lies brave Cooley that once-mighty chieftain
Who commanded a view from the Bann to the Foyle.

His statue disfigured by base alien mongrels
His name oft impaired by unscrupulous foes
But his soul shines in glory 'mid choirs of angels
While his body lies mouldering on the banks of the Roe.

Long may she prosper 'neath her sheltering mountains
Benbradagh Carntogher and surrounding hills
From calamity and famine great heaven defend them
And grant them contentment 'neath their clear curling rill.