The Chapel Gates In Cooraclare

I’ve been away from Ireland now for nearly fifty years
And thoughts of home are still so dear to me
Often I gaze across the ocean and my eyes grow dim with tears
Let me tell you of the visions that I’ve seen

As a barefoot child I stood there when the summer sun did shine
Across the steep lough, that little church down there
And we gathered every evening while the weather would be fine
Around the chapel gates in Cooraclare

So in dreams I love to ramble down the village street
And meet the boys and girls gathered there
For to sing the good old songs, telling of old Ireland’s wrongs
Around the chapel gates in Cooraclare

There were weddings planned and matches made and stories old and new
Around among the boys that gathered there
And we played at football matches ’till the final whistle blew
Around the chapel gates in Cooraclare

We would talk about the neighbours, the weather and the times
And who the boys were courting on the sly
We would watch the colleens passing down, and bid them the time of day
And perhaps we’d catch a twinkle in their eyes

So in dreams I loved to ramble down the village street
And meet the boys and girls gathered there
For to sing the good old songs, telling of old Ireland’s wrongs
Around the chapel gates in Cooraclare

But I’m growing old and weary in this land so far away
But I’ll return to Ireland yet if God will spare
And when all is done they’ll lay me, at the closing of my days
Inside the chapel gates in Cooraclare
Inside the chapel gates in Cooraclare