Song: Ballad of Douglas Bridge
(by Francis Carlin, 1881-1945)
from Padraic Colum's (1881-1972)
Anthology of Irish Verse, 1922.
On Douglas Bridge I met a man
Who lived adjacent to Strabane,
Before the English hung him high
For riding with O�Hanlon.
The eyes of him were just as fresh
As when they burned within the flesh;
And his boot-legs were wide apart
From riding with O�Hanlon.
God save you, Sir, I said with fear,
You seem to be a stranger here.
Not I, said he, nor any man
Who rides with Count O�Hanlon.
I know each glen from North Tyrone
To Monaghan, and I�ve been known
By every clan and parish, since
I rode with Count O�Hanlon.
Before that time, said he to me,
My fathers owned the land you see;
But they are now among the moors
A-riding with O�Hanlon.
Before that time, said he with pride,
My fathers rode where now they ride
As Rapparees, before the time
Of trouble and O�Hanlon.
Good night to you, and God be with
The tellers of the tale and myth,
For they are of the spirit-stuff
That rides with Count O�Hanlon.
Good night to you, said I, and God
Be with the chargers, fairy-shod,
That bear the Ulster heroes forth
To ride with Count O�Hanlon.
On Douglas Bridge we parted, but
The Gap o� Dreams is never shut,
To one whose saddled soul to-night
Rides out with Count O�Hanlon.