The Kerry Hills (1901)
Oh ! brightly beams the summer sun
On fair lands far away ;
A garb of green the valleys wear.
Where silvery streamlets stray ;
But boyhood's home I'll ne'er forget,
Whate'er my fate may be ;
Where'er I roam, my Irish home--
The Kerry Hills--for me !
There's music in the leafy woods,
And 'mid the rocky hills ;
The rolling tones that follow fast
The leaping, rippling rills ;
And sunshine dances round the door
At mid-day, wild with glee,
And proudly stand the mountains grand.
The Kerry Hills for me !
Amidst these hills the steel was heard,
And music's martial strain,
When patriots sought to make our isle
A Nation once again.
The outlaw bold, like eagle wild,
On mountain's brow was free.
Oh, Freedom's home, where'er I roam,
The Kerry Hills for me!
Ah! sorrows fall like mountain shade,
O'er brightest scenes of earth,
Yet hope remains amid the plains
To hail the morrow's birth ;
And gladly glides the winter's night
'Mid scenes of mirth and glee--
Where'er I roam, my mountain home,
The Kerry Hills for me !
Let others boast of happy homes
In fair lands far away.
My love for thee shall never fade,
Where'er my footsteps stray
Dear Kerry ! Home of loving hearts !
My mountain nurse ! Machree !
No lakes can e'er with thine compare.
The Kerry Lakes for me !
--"O'Dorney."
Notes
From the South Australian newspaper the Southern Cross Friday 30 August 1901, p. 14.