Killybegs

My heart was warm with family love
As I slipped into a chair
Beside my Uncle John my daughters
'cross the table there
I'd walked the docks in misty rain
A pain was in my legs
But I'd seen the dream of kinsmen
In the boats of Killybegs

The ban'er of my Uncle and
My daughters filled the air
And the Donegalers next to us were
Glad that we were there
I was kind of quite listening
Out the window ledge
For the music of the harbour
The birds of Killybegs

Down the coast not far was Galway
Planned the joys from Connemara
After supper and a sleep
We would be going there tomorra'
I worried if my words would
Ere be sung by Irishmen
Or rot here on the docks
Like the fish of Killybegs
A radio was playin' though we
Never heard a word
For the rhythm of the music
Was familiar if absurd
A hearkening intensity for silence did I beg
Oh what a song was playing
In the air of Killybegs

I couldn't quite believe it for
It sounded rather strange
The instruments were different and the
Key had been changed
I reached to turn the volume up
Then teeter on my leg
A girl from Tipperary sang
My song in Killybegs