Here’s to the County Galway (abridged/anon)
No matter wheresoe’er I roam
In foreign lands across the foam,
My thoughts will always fly to home,
To home and County Galway.
And though, alas, I had to part
And hear the sting of sorrow’s dart,
There’s still a soft spot in my heart
For home and County Galway.
’Tis there the hills are towering high,
They seem to kiss the azure sky,
And peep at heaven on the sly,
Those towering hills of Galway.
There is no fairer spot I ween,
The sun’s more bright, the grass more green;
There’s poetry in every scene
Around the County Galway,
For rosy lips and laughing eyes
That beam as bright as sumer skies,
In which some subtle charm lies,
Give me the girls of Galway.
They’re mild and gentle as a dove,
Are full of virtue, truth and love-
There’s nothing under heaven above
Just like the girls of Galway.
The men are all from six feet four
To seven feet six and sometimes more
’Tis very few can stand before
A fighting lad from Galway.
They’d jump a hurdle eight foot high,
Catch cannon balls upon the fly.
And for old Ireland dare or die,
Those rattling boys from Galway.
Then here’s to Galway’s maids and bells,
To Galway’s men and Galway’s swells,
To Galway’s lakes and Galway’s fells
Here’s to the County Galway.
May angels weave their mystic spells,
O’er every home where virtue dwells,
O’er Galway’s hills and Galway’s dells
There’s no place else like Galway.
The Burren and Beyond 