John Kelly

It was among the cowslips

I saw John Kelly stand,

An old caubeen was on his head,

He'd cowslips in his hand.

He pick'd a big bunch,

I pick'd one too,

But his he laid upon my knee,

Said he, “Them's thim for you”.

Ah! Warm the sun was shining

That day above Dundrum,

The corncrakes all were shouting,

The blackbirds whistling “Come,”

Clear was the Three-Rock,

Misty the sea,

That time I met John Kelly there,

When first he spoke to me.

We stood among the cowslips,

I heard the cuckoo call,

John Kelly show'd his cabin there

Beyond the granite wall,

A whitewashed cottage

Warm-thatched and small

And then he smiled and said goodbye,

I smiled, and that was all.

The scent of cowslips still brings back

That day above Dundrum,

When corncrakes shouted in the grass,

When blackbirds whistled “Come”.

Still I can see you

There by the gate:

John Kelly, you were five years old,

And I was twenty eight.