Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922.
By George Fox95. The County of Mayo
O
Through my sighing all the weary day, and weeping all the night,
Were it not that full of sorrow from my people forth I go,
By the blessed sun! ’tis royally I’d sing thy praise, Mayo!
In the company of fair young maids the Spanish ale went round—
’Tis a bitter change from those gay days that now I’m forced to go,
And must leave my bones in Santa Cruz, far from my own Mayo.
With their hair-bags and their top-knots—for I pass their buckles by;
But it’s little now I heed their airs, for God will have it so,
That I must depart for foreign lands, and leave my sweet Mayo.