1824 Poem, George Dugall, ‘Song’
Author: George Dugall
Date: 1824
Source: Poem: ‘Song’, from The Northern Cottage and other poems; written partly in the Dialect of the North of Ireland by George Dugall (Londonderry: William McCorkell, 1824)
Comments: George Dugall (c.1790-1855) was the son of Rev. George Dugall, Presbyterian minister of Magherafelt from 1786-1810, and lived most of his life near Newtowncunningham in Donegal. He was a schoolteacher in north Donegal, and his only book of poems The Northern Cottage contains an extensive glossary of Ulster-Scots words. The vocabulary and cultural context of his poems are rich in Ulster-Scots reference.
Doc. ref. no.: USLS/TB/Poetry/1800-1899/064
SONG
Air — “Bard’s Legacy” — May 1814
Ye fairy haunts, whar young fancy stray’d,
In life’s sweet morn, unknown to care,
Where are those charms you once display’d?
Ah! where those sounds that sooth’d me there?
While yet to hopes an’ fears a stranger,
As careless an’ gay as the brook that ran by,
Ere yet o’ love I kent aught o’ the danger,
Before it stole frae my breast a sigh.
Your birds are as cheery, your streamlet as clear,
Your rose as red, an’ your sward as green,
As when beneath yon fragrant briar
I smil’d an’ sang frae morn to e’en;
But bloom ye bowers, of sweets I’m weary,
My lassie is far frae your lanely shade;
And sing ye warblers I carelessly hear ye,
’Tis no the voice o’ my dearest maid.