Raglan Road

Raglan Road- poem by Patrick Kavanagh
melody by Luke Kelly from Thomas Connellan's
tune "Dawning of the Day"

4 -4 5  5   5    -4 5  6  6   -6
On   Raglan Road on an Autumn day
6 5 4   5 -4 4     4   4
I   met her  first and knew,
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That her dark hair would weave a snare
5 -5  6 5     7   5   -4
That  I might one day rue.
6 -6  6   -6 7   5  -4 4
I saw the danger yet I walked
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Along the enchanted way.
4  -4 5     5   5     -4 5 6  6   -6
And I said,"Let grief be a fallen leaf
6  5   4  5 -4 4  4   4
At the dawning of the day."

On Grafton Street in November, we
Tripped lightly along the ledge
Of a deep ravine where can be seen
The worth of passion pledge.
The Queen of Hearts still making tarts
And I not making hay;
Oh, I loved too much and by such by such
Is happiness thrown away.

I gave her gifts of the mind,
I gave her the secret sign,
That's known to the artists who have known
The true gods of sound and stone.
And word and tint I did not stint
For I gave her poems to say
With her own name there and her own dark hair
Like clouds over fields of May.

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet
I see her walking now,
Away from me so hurriedly
My reason must allow.
That I had loved, not as I should
A creature made of clay,
When the angel woos the clay, he'll lose
His wings at the dawn of day.