Dolores Keane Galway Bay
'Tis far away I am today from scenes I roamed a boy,
And long ago the hour I know I first saw Illinois;
But time nor tide nor waters wide can wean my heart away,
For ever true it flies to you, my dear old Galway Bay.
O ! grey and bleak, by shore and creek, the rugged rocks
abound,
But sweet and green the grass between, as grows on Irish
ground,
So friendship fond, all wealth beyond, and love that
lives alway,
Bless each poor home beside your foam, my dear old Galway
Bay.
Had I youth's blood and hopeful mood and heart of fire
once more,
For all the gold the world might hold I'd never quit your
shore,
I'd live content whate'er God sent with neighbours old
and gray,
And lay my bones, 'neath churchyard stones, beside you,
Galway Bay.
The blessing of a poor old man be with you night and day,
The blessing of a lonely man whose heart will soon be
clay;
'Tis all the Heaven I'll ask of God upon my dying day,
My soul to soar for ever more above you, Galway Bay.
