William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
The Irish EmigrantF
Sweet scenes of my childhood, forever adieu!
Now hid from my sight is the flowery dell,
And now the dear cabin recedes from my view;
Thy wild-waving woods, too, are lost to my sight:
Sweet gem of the world, I drop the sad tear,
And farewell to Erin, dear land of delight.
Ye chill my warm blood, as the sad scenes I trace:
Though time shakes his sand, and the wide waters roll,
Nor distance, nor seasons, those scenes shall efface;
And blooming thy maidens to my ravish’d sight.
Sweet gem of the world! I drop the sad tear
To Erin, dear Erin! the land of delight.
Thy streams, stain’d with blood, reveal’d the sad tale!
Thy wild-waving woodlands were shrouded with flame,
And the hell-hounds of war descended the vale;
Can I think without madness on that horrid night.
To your shades, ye beloved ones, I drop the sad tear,
And to Erin, dear Erin! the land of delight.