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Also known as A Londonderry Air, An Aire from the County Derry, and perhaps most famously, Danny Boy. Although these words by Thomas Moore are not the first to be put to this tune ( “Would I were Erin’s apple blossom o’er you” by Alfred Graves puportedly are ), I like these more than the modern “Danny Boy” which is typically heard today.
My Gentle Harp
by Thomas Moore
My gentle harp, once more I a- waken
The sweetness of thy slumber- ing strain
In tears our last fare- well was ta- ken
And now in tears we meet again.
Yet even then, while peace was singing
Her halcyon song o’er land and sea
Though joy and hope to others bringing,
she only brought new te- ars to thee.
Then who can ask for notes of pleasure,
my drooping harp, from chords like thine?
Alas, the lark’s gay morning measure
As ill would suit the swan’s decline.
Or how shall I, who love, who less thee,
invoke thy breath for freedom’s strains,
When e’en the wreaths in which I dress thee
Are sadly mixed, half flowers, half chains?
The sweetness of thy slumber- ing strain
In tears our last fare- well was ta- ken
And now in tears we meet again.
Yet even then, while peace was singing
Her halcyon song o’er land and sea
Though joy and hope to others bringing,
she only brought new te- ars to thee.
Then who can ask for notes of pleasure,
my drooping harp, from chords like thine?
Alas, the lark’s gay morning measure
As ill would suit the swan’s decline.
Or how shall I, who love, who less thee,
invoke thy breath for freedom’s strains,
When e’en the wreaths in which I dress thee
Are sadly mixed, half flowers, half chains?