How hard is my fortune
How vain my repining
The strong rope of fate
For my young neck is twining
My strength has departed
My cheeks sunk and sallow
As I languish in chains
In the gaol of Cluain Meala
No boy in the village
Was ever yet milder
I could play with a child
And my sport be no wilder
I could dance without tiring
From morning til evening
And my goal ball I'd strike
To the lightning of heaven
At my bedfoot decaying
My hurley is lying
Through the lads of the village
My goal ball is flying
My horse 'mongst the neighbours
Neglected may fallow
While this heart young and gay
Lies cold in Cluain Meala
Next sunday the pattern
At home will be keeping
The lads of the village
The fields will be sweeping
And the dance of fair maidens
The evening will hallow
While this heart
Young and gay
lies cold in Cluain Meala
How vain my repining
The strong rope of fate
For my young neck is twining
My strength has departed
My cheeks sunk and sallow
As I languish in chains
In the gaol of Cluain Meala
No boy in the village
Was ever yet milder
I could play with a child
And my sport be no wilder
I could dance without tiring
From morning til evening
And my goal ball I'd strike
To the lightning of heaven
At my bedfoot decaying
My hurley is lying
Through the lads of the village
My goal ball is flying
My horse 'mongst the neighbours
Neglected may fallow
While this heart young and gay
Lies cold in Cluain Meala
Next sunday the pattern
At home will be keeping
The lads of the village
The fields will be sweeping
And the dance of fair maidens
The evening will hallow
While this heart
Young and gay
lies cold in Cluain Meala
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2014/8/8 - 14:00
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Nota anche con il titolo de “The Gaol of Cluain Meala”.
Versi del poeta di Cork Jeremiah Joseph Callanan (1795–1829).
Interpretata e incisa da moltissimi musicisti irlandesi, da Luke Kelly coi Dubliners a Tommy Sands con la Sands Family ai Dublin City Ramblers.
La “príosún Chluain Meala” (Clonmel, contea Tipperary) ha visto passare molti irriducibili irlandesi, dai Whiteboys, che nel 700 lottavano contro i latifondisti ed i loro abusi, ai Young Irelanders, precursori del repubblicanismo novecentesco…