EILEEN AROON
- Gerald Griffin (1803-1840),
after the Gaelic of Carol O'Daly (1300's)
When, like the dawning day
Eileen Aroon
Love sends his early ray
Eileen Aroon
What makes his dawning glow
Changeless through joy and woe
Only the constant know
Eileen Aroon
2. Were she no longer true
Eileen Aroon
What would her lover do
Eileen Aroon
Fly with a broken chain
Far o'er the bounding main
Never to love again
Eileen Aroon
3. Youth must in time decay
Eileen Aroon
Beauty must fade away
Eileen Aroon
Castles are sacked in war
Chieftains are scattered far
Truth is a fixed star
Eileen Aroon
When, like the early rose,
Eileen aroon!
Beauty in childhood blows;
Eileen aroon!
When like a diadem,
Buds blush around the stem,
Which is the fairest gem?
Eileen aroon!
Is it the laughing eye,
Eileen aroon!
Is it the timid sigh,
Kileen aroon!
Is it the tender tone,
Soft as the string'd harp's moan?
Oh, it is the truth alone.
Eileen Aroon!
When, like the rising day,
Eileen aroon!
Love sends his early ray,
Eileen aroon!
What makes his dawning glow
Changeless through joy or woe?
Only the constant know -
Eileen aroon!
I knew a valley fair,
Eileen aroon!
I knew a cottage there,
Eileen aroon!
Far in that valley's shade
I knew a gentle maid,
Flower of a hazel glade,
Eileen aroon!
