Story Behind The Song

part of song cycle about Knocknarea (see also Still Believing, The Scholar, Believe Me Sligo, Sligo Down to Spain, Mayfly and the Stone, etc.)

Song Description

man remembers, as if from far away, the many magical times he has met, with his love beside him, on the 'mountain in the bay' of Knocknarea, just outside of Sligo town.

Lyrics

And so we turn the corner
and feel no more
like mourners,
so pleasing to the foreigner's
this mountain in the bay.
How sweet to pass the seasons
for brave or foolish reasons,
nor scorn to take our ease
in the Glen of Knocknarea.
To wander in this bower's
to plunder holy hours,
the ace and deuce of powers
that have hid themselves away.
And when we turn the corner,
the moon, as though newborn,
arrests the magic-lorn
on the side of Knocknarea.

In winter's cold dominion,
wild geese shake out
their pinions
and cities full of engines
make me feel I'm long astray;
and in these topless towers,
where minutes fill like hours,
a captive people cowers
with no thought of Knocknarea.
But I can look inside me
and walk, my love beside me,
on canted land
where whin commands
and water meets the day;
and so we turn the corner
and like the hunter's horn
or some soaring thing, reborn,
we belong on Knocknarea.

©1984 Thom Moore, reg. IMRO, MCPS

Top 10 List	Rank
Folk - Traditional	#9

Playlist Creator	Playlist Name	Date Added
Colman Rushe	Thomas Moore	1/30/2021