Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN: A JACOBITE BALLAD, by PATRICK JOSEPH MCCALL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN: A JACOBITE BALLAD, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A poor lonely maiden, I'm now going over
Last Line: My bonnie light horseman is slain in the war!


A POOR lonely maiden, I'm now going over
To Shemus, in Flanders, to look for my lover:
Oh Mary, my pity! how shall I discover
My bonnie light horseman, away in the war?

We lived by the banks of the broomy Blackwater,
My father and mother, and I, their one daughter,
Till red grew our valley with burning and slaughter,
By Kirke's Saxon butchers, let loose in the war!

We fled to the cave -- to the haunt of the Torie;
And Emun, my lover, for vengeance and glory,
Took sabre and steel -- sad, oh Mary, my story! --
A bonnie light horseman, he joined in the war!

I parted from him on the street of Dungannon:
He lost at the Boyne, but won at the Shannon;
Till Shemus, the craven, left him at Duncannon --
My bonnie light horseman, so brave in the war!

From Limerick, with Sheldon, away he went sailing:
'Forget him, dear Eileen!' my parents cried, wailing:
They're now in the clay, while I sigh, unavailing,
For my bonnie light horseman, afar in the war!

They've told me! -- ah, love, shall I never more see you?
Now, Erin, cold, cold is the hand that would free you!
They have told me at last -- 'Oh, astorin mo chree hu!'
My bonnie light horseman is slain in the war!





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