Through the midlands of Ireland I journeyed by diesel
And bright in the sun shone the emerald plain
Though loud sang the birds on the thorn bush and teasel
They could not be heard for the sound of the train
The roll of the railway made musing creative
I thought of the calling I soon was to see
With the wiry black hair and grey eyes of the native
Sweet Moira, my Covendish, a Cushlam, a Cree
Sweet Moira,
sweet Moira,
oh Moira, my Covendish, a Cushlam, a Cree
A brother's wee cabin stands distant from Tallow
A league and a half where the black water flows
And the musk and potato,
the mint and the marlow Do grow there in beauty along with the rose
Twas smoothly we raced through the open
expansion Of rush-covered levels and gate,
lodge and gate
And the ruined domain and the windowless mansion
Where once the old presser had reveled in state
Moira,
sweet Moira,
oh Moira, my Covendish, a Cushlam, a Cree
At Castledown Roach,
as the prospect grew hillier I saw
the far mountains to Moira long known
Till I came to the valley and townland familiar
With the Protestant church standing locked and alone
O vain of my heart upon Tallow Roach station
No face was to greet me so freckled and white
As the diesel slid out leaving still desolation
The MacCavendish ascot was nowhere in sight
Moira,
sweet Moira,
oh Moira, my Covendish, a Cushlam, a Cree
For a league and a half to the black water
river I tramped with my bundle her cabin to see
And herself by the fusions,
her young lips a-quiver Half smiling,
half weeping,
a welcome to me
Moira,
sweet Moira,
oh Moira, my Covendish, a Cushlam, a Cree
Ach Moira,
my Covendish,
the fangs of the Creeper
Have struck at the thatch and frost-tolen the door
The couch in the garden grows ranker and deeper
Than musk and the tatum which bloomed there before
Flow on,
you remorseless,
unsummoned for waters What care I for prospects so silvery fair?
The heart in me's dead like your sweetest
of daughters And I would that my spirit were
lost on the air
Moira,
sweet Moira,
oh Moira, my Covendish, a Cushlam, a Cree
Moira,
sweet Moira,
oh Moira, my Covendish, a Cushlam,
a Cree