The Irish Emigrant
1880.
Look not for me at eventide,
I cannot come when work is done;
I go to wander far and wide,
For ’tis not here that gold is won.
Perchance where’er I go, these hands
May find me what I need to live;
Whate’er they win, if house, or lands,
I’d yield for what they cannot give.
For who can turn away his face
From home and kin and be at rest?
What country e’er can take the place
That Ireland fills within my breast?
More kindly smile the distant skies,
They say, beyond yon angry sea;
I know not what they mean, mine eyes
Have never seen these frown on me.
To me these hills beside the wave
With every year have dearer grown;
Is it so great a thing to crave
To call my native land, mine own?
But why these useless plaints renew?
Farewell! That word, it seems a knell!
If still I’m dear, kind hearts, to you,
’Tis all I ask, Farewell, Farewell!