Farewell

Golden haired and golden hearted
I would ever have you be
As you were when we last parted
Smiling slow and sad at me
Oh the fighting down of passion
Oh the century-seeming pain
Parting in this off-hand fashion
In Dungarvan in the rain
In the rain

Slanting eyes of blue, unweeping
Stands my Swedish beauty where
Gusts of Irish rain are sweeping
Round the statue in the square
Corner boys against the walling
Watch us furtively in vain
And the Angelus is calling
Through Dungarvan in the rain
In the rain

Gales along the Commeragh Mountains
Beating sleet on creaking signs
Iron gutters turned to fountains
And the windscreen laced with lines
And the evening getting later
And the ache increased again
As the distance grows the greater
From Dungarvan in the rain
In the rain

There is no one now to wonder
What eccentric sits in state
While the beech trees rock and thunder
Round his gate-lodge and his gate
Gone the ornamental plaster
Gone the overgrown demesne
And the car goes fast, and faster
From Dungarvan in the rain
In the rain

Had I kissed and drawn you to me
Had you yielded warm for cold
What a power had pounded through me
As I stroked your streaming gold
You were right to keep us parted
Bound and parted we remain
Aching, if unbroken hearted
Oh Dungarvan in the rain
In the rain

Oh Dungarvan in the rain
In the rain
In the rain