Digital Tradition Mirror

The Irish Lovers (Curragh of Kildare)

The Irish Lovers (Curragh of Kildare)

Now the winter is past,
And the summer comes at last,
  And the birds sing on every tree,
The hearts of those are glad,
Whilst I am very sad,
  Since my true love is absent from me.

My father he is great,
With a plentiful estate,
  He has robb'd me of him I adore;
How cou'd he so cruel be,
To force my love from me,
  And I fear I shall see him no more.

I'll put on a coat of black,
And a fringe about my neck,
  My rings on my fingers I'll wear;
Straightway I will repair
To the Corough of Kildare,
  And tis there of my love I shall hear.

A livery I shall wear,
And I'll comb back my hair,
  I will dress in my velvet so green;
And this I'll undertake,
For my true lover's sake,
  He rides on the Corough of Kildare(1).

With patience I did wait,
Till he ran for the plate(1),
  Thinking young Jopson(2) to see;
But fortune prov'd unkind,
He has alter'd his mind,
  And he's gone from the lowlands from me.

I would not think it strange,
The wide world for to range,
  So I could but obtain my delight;
So here in Cupid's chain
I'm obliged to remain,
  And in tears I will spend the night.

My love is like the sun,
In the firmament doth run,
  That always proves constant and true;
But yours is like the moon,
That goes wandering up and down,
  And every month is new.

Farewell my joy and heart,
Since you and I must part,
  You're the fairest that ever I did see;
I never did design
To alter my mind,
  Altho' you're below my degree.

1. The races on the plain of Kildare were a great gathering-place for people fro
m
   all over Ireland.

2. The similarity to the broadside "The Lamenting Maid" suggests this should be
   "Johnson".
From a broadside in the Madden Collection, now in the University Library in Cam
bridge; reprinted in "Later English Broadside Ballads", ed. Holloway & Black, 19
75.  Believed to be eighteenth or early nineteenth century because, although und
ated, it does not show the font and style changes which were typical of the earl
y nineteenth century printing of broadsides. DAD
DAD
apr00

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